Dreams Unbroken
by Kulani Tawanoki
Summary: Ten years after Eneko was killed, her daughter Niji still believes she is alive, but not many people agree with her. When a stranger shows up at the village, Niji fights them, but finds out that the stranger knows all of her mother's moves. AU OOC ItaxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Dreams Unbroken ****Chapter One**

A young girl of twelve years strolled around the quiet meadow in the dead of night. She slowly made her way to a small memorial-like statue and smiled, brushing her long black hair behind her ear. Tears fell out of her large, emerald green eyes and she smiled sadly, brushing her fingers over the waist-high memorial. The memorial looked like a woman holding two fans with dragons etched into them and she was smiling just as she had always been before that fateful fight. The comfortable silence was then broken as the girl took a long, deep breath.

"Hi again, mom." She murmured softly. "It's me, Niji. That bully Tamonai tried to tell me that you weren't coming home again, but I know that it's not true. You're going to come back any day now. I don't care if it's been ten years, mom, you're coming back. I just know it." Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her and spun around, her hands already grasping kunai knives. Her green eyes flashed dangerously in the dim light of the half-moon and an older man came out of the shadows, smiling softly.

"I had a strong feeling that you would be here, Niji. I believe it's after your curfew?" He asked with a smile. Niji sighed and put away her kunai, wiping the tears from her face.

"Father doesn't care anymore, Grandpa." She responded. Uchiha Fugaku sighed softly. "But my question is, what are _you_ doing out so late?" She asked as casually as the situation would allow. He laughed and put a hand on her shoulder softly.

"I was worried about you, Niji-chan. Iruka told me what happened with that Tamonai boy." His face then got serious. "Niji, you can't keep this up anymore. You've just got to grow up and accept the fact that your mother died protecting all of us and she won't come home ever again."

"Save it, Grandpa." She spat. "I know that no one else thinks that my mother is coming home, but I'm hanging onto the hope. This has mattered to me ever since I _saw_ her take that blow to the heart. Were you there? No. Did _you_ see her face? No, I didn't think so. There were only four people in that clearing and you weren't one of them. So just because you all are two blind to see it does not mean that, just because it's been ten years, I will rip out my eyes and join you. My mother is coming home and when she does, it will prove to you all that you have greatly underestimated the greatest kunoichi in all of the world." She glared at him icily. Fugaku blinked in surprise, remembering all the times he had said something that had contradicted her mother's words and she would say something like that with the same glare. He ran a hand through his graying hair and remembered Niji's mother as if she were standing beside him. Unfortunately for Itachi, both of his girls had shared the same eyes, but Niji's mother had had brown hair instead of Niji's jet-black locks.

"If you say so, Niji, but don't act like that around your father. You of all people should know how he gets when Eneko is mentioned. Her death, or supposed 'death' killed him as well." Fugaku warned. Niji nodded and turned her back on him, facing the memorial again. Her father's best friend, Deidara, had built it after Eneko had died, trying to help her father, but it had just done the opposite. Her father, Itachi, was the closest one to her, the one that she could turn to when things got bad for her, but he was also an enigma to the twelve-year-old.

She only remembered bits and pieces of when her mother was still alive, and even then, most if it was from that fight. She remembered how her mother could always lift anyone's spirits, including hers and her father's. Her father had always smiled and laughed when her mother was near and he was very protective of her. But then, when her mother had sacrificed her own happiness so that others could live happily by killing the old Akatsuki leader, Pein, her father changed. He hardly ever smiled anymore and he wouldn't look her in the eyes because they were the same as Eneko's. And he seemed lost without her as well, always either going into a short depression or an icy rage. Niji often wondered if this was how he had been when her mother had been believed to be dead nearly seventeen years ago. But the only person she would have been able to ask was dead as well.

"I'll take that into consideration, Grandpa." She told him calmly before looking over at him again. "You should go and get some sleep, you know. Even if you aren't _head_ of the police force anymore, you still have important duties to perform." Her grandfather chuckled deeply and nodded. She smiled, knowing that her Uncle Sasuke was the head of the police force now, taking over the 'family business' two years after her mother had been killed.

"You should get some sleep too, all right, Niji? And don't worry about your father, he'll be back to his old self tomorrow." Fugaku promised before turning to leave. Niji stood at the memorial, just thinking for a while longer. Earlier that day, Niji had mentioned her mother at the dinner conversation and her father hadn't talked the rest of the meal. Niji had gotten tired of it and had gone to train before coming here, but he usually got out of the depression by the next day. He always said that Eneko wouldn't want him to be like this and that someday he could talk about her without getting like that, but that day hadn't come yet. Niji had a feeling that day wouldn't come until her mother came home. She looked up at the sky and noticed that it was getting lighter and dawn would be upon them soon, so she headed over to the gate of the city. The two male guards greeted her as she approached.

"Good evening, or rather morning, Niji!" The older guard with dark, nearly black, messy green hair greeted. "What are you doing out so early?" She smiled at him before pulling herself onto the counter of the guard stand.

"Well, Bokura, I went to visit the memorial made to my still-alive mother and I wanted to come and visit the two of you. You graveyard shift guards need an energetic girl to keep you on your toes so that you don't fall asleep." She smiled. The two girls both broke into laughter and she giggled quietly. Her father had once told her that she had inherited her mother's ability to lift people's spirits. It was one of the only things that he had told her about her mother.

"Yeah, the graveyard shift is pretty bad, but someone's got to do it and I can never sleep anyway." The guard with even messier dark green hair, Bokura's younger brother Nekura, commented dryly. Niji smiled over at him and laughed at the expression on his face.

"Oh, stop whining Nekura. If you weren't on the graveyard shift, then I probably wouldn't get to come visit you as often." She smiled at him.

"Well, maybe I _should_ apply for an earlier shift." He teased playfully. She let out a mock-hurt gasp and they all three shared another laugh. They stopped laughing when Bokura spotted a hooded figure that was walking with a limp and coming toward the gate. The figure stopped right before the guard box, looking up at the city.

"The Uchiha family lives here, do they not?" The figure asked in a feminine voice. Niji's eyes narrowed; that voice was familiar.

"Yes, the Uchihas do live here, ma'am." Nekura responded, bored already. Niji grinned at him. A lot of people came from all over the place to try and challenge the mighty Uchiha Clan that had been thriving even if there were so few of them now.

"Who is the strongest one in the Uchiha Clan?" She asked. Bokura sighed and Niji went back to trying to figure out where she had heard that voice before. She knew it was familiar, she knew she had heard it before, but she couldn't quite put her finger on _where_.

"Well, if you ask most of the villagers, it would have to be little Niji here. But then, if you ask those of us who still believe her mother, Eneko, is still alive, it's Eneko. But then, Eneko hasn't been seen for ten years and most people believe she's dead." Bokura explained. The woman turned her head and seemed to stare straight through Niji, even though Niji couldn't see the woman's eyes.

"Uchiha Niji? Girl, would you do me the honor of fighting me? I want to see if the strength of the Uchiha Clan has withstood all the troubles they have been through." The woman explained. Nekura nodded and nudged Niji, smiling at her.

"Yea, girlie, you should totally do it. I'm sure your mom will be happy to hear that you defended your Clan's honor by fighting that woman. I'd even tell her myself." Niji smiled and nodded at him, then turned back to the woman, sliding off the counter.

"Sure, I'll fight you. Just tell me when and where, ma'am." She responded. The woman seemed to grin, even though Niji still couldn't see her face.

"Well, how about right here and right now? I mean, if you don't mind, of course." The woman asked, being very polite about the whole situation, even if it was a little awkward on Niji's part. Niji nodded and went straight into a battle position, as did the woman. Niji's eyes narrowed yet again; now her battle position was familiar.

Suddenly, the woman darted forward, spinning in and out of air currents so that she couldn't be hit with kunai or shuriken. Niji started back, surprised, before realizing that this was a strong opponent. She did something she only did in extremely tough situations; she pulled out her most prized possessions out of holsters on her hips. Her prized possessions were her mother's metal-plated fans. Niji grimaced as she remembered how she had come to get a hold of them. During the final fight with Pein, the sadistic Akatsuki leader had tried to deal a low blow by attacking her two-year-old self Her father was too far away to help, but her mother, already weak from the battle, had barely made it to her and took the kunai blow to the heart. As she plunged a kunai into the dark man's heart, she dropped her two fans beside Niji and then disappeared with him, vowing to make sure he could never hurt anyone again. Ever since then, Niji learned to use her mother's fans and some of the jutsu that she had taught Naruto. Naruto, not believing Eneko was alive either, had taught her the jutsu only to keep Eneko's memory alive. On the other hand, his wife Hinata had tried to help, believing Niji in the fact that Eneko was still alive. The cloaked woman suddenly stopped weaving through currents and pulled out two of her own fans and going into a completely different battle position. Niji's eyes widened and she stopped, recognizing the pose almost instantly.

_Why is this woman using all of my mother's fighting styles?_


	2. Chapter 2

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken

**Chapter Two**

"Hey, lady! That's my mother's fighting style! Did you meet her on the road somewhere? She's got brown hair and green eyes that look exactly like mine! Please, if you've seen her tell me!" Niji begged. The woman suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind her.

"Never let your guard down. Even for a moment. Or things like this may happen." The woman whispered, her warm breath tickling Niji's ear. Suddenly, the woman spun around and gained enough momentum to kick Niji in the back and send her crashing to the ground, skidding in the dust. Niji then spit out a mouthful of dirt and gave a fierce glare to her opponent. The raven-haired girl leapt to her feet but the hooded woman was already moving her fans into an all-too-familiar position. Niji's eyes widened in horror.

"Secrets of the dragon's wings." The woman whispered softly. Powerful hurricane-force winds blew around the large main road that the two females were fighting on and sent Niji flying backwards into a tree. The raven-haired girl spat out blood and glared at the woman again. The woman put her fans down and sighed, looking bored.

"_This_ is the strength of the Uchiha Clan, then? It's pretty pitiful if you ask an experienced traveler like me. Maybe all those rumors I heard were true and the strength of the Uchihas died with the other members." Something in Niji snapped and she charged forward in the blink of an eye. The traveler fought off all of Niji's attacks but it soon became clear that the woman wasn't going to be able to fight much longer. The woman was tiring too quickly and Niji finally saw a gap in her defenses and exploited it, sending the woman crashing to the ground heavily. The young girl held a kunai dangerously close to the woman's throat.

"It's over. This is the end." Niji panted. The woman was obviously out of breath as well, but she shook her head, laughing. Niji nearly cried out in frustration; the laugh was familiar too! Was everything this woman did going to set off the familiar alert in Niji's brain?

"This may be the end of this story, Niji, but for life, it's just a new beginning." Niji froze in complete shock.

_Every story may have it's end, but in life, every end is just a new beginning._ Her mother's voice drifted around her head. The woman gently pushed Niji's kunai away from her throat and shakily got to her feet.

"I'm so proud of you, Niji-chan." The woman put her hands on the hood covering her face. "You have grown into such a fine young woman."" She pulled the hood down. She had naturally pale skin and brown hair that blew over one eye. Her bright green eyes were filled with tears of happiness and she smiled softly. "But I'm so sorry that it took me so long to come home." Niji let out a happy sob and rushed forward, hugging the woman around the waist tightly.

"Mommy! You're home! You've finally come home!" Niji looked over at the two guards. "Bokura! Nekura! She's home! She finally came back!" Both Bokura and Nekura openly stared, jaws dropped. Eneko laughed softly and looked at Niji.

"Niji, I need to talk to Tsunade and tell her that I've returned. Do you want to come with me to the hokage's office?" Niji grinned at her and she looked at her daughter, confused.

"You've been gone for far too long, Mom. Tsunade-baa-chan isn't the hokage anymore. Look up at the mountain." She pointed. The sky was getting light in the early morning hours as Eneko looked up at the familiar mountain. She let out a delighted gasp, her hands going to her face as she smiled.

"Naruto! Naruto-kun finally fulfilled his dream!" She yelled, overjoyed. Niji laughed and started walking with her mother to the new hokage's office. Eneko was looking around at everything with a sad expression on her face.

"You alright mom?" Niji asked, concerned. Eneko looked over and smiled at her before pulling her hood back up so that only her eyes couldn't be seen.

"I'm fine, Niji-chan. I've just missed so much… What's been going on while I've been away? I'd like to hear everything at once…" Niji smiled and hugged her mother.

"Naruto became the hokage after he married Hinata. They have two children, an older boy, Koro, and a younger girl Tami. Uncle Sasuke married Aunt Sakura and became the head of the police force. They have four children, their oldest is a boy named Shura, twin girls Tsuki and Mikazuki, and a younger boy named Tai. Grandpa and Grandma are doing really well and Grandpa's still on the police force, but this time, he's under one of his children, which he was very proud of Uncle Sasuke for it." Eneko smiled softly before her face lit up in excitement.

"That brings the Uchiha count to, what, eleven?" She grinned. "We're well on our way to restoring the Clan! We'll bring it back to it's glory…" She smiled. Niji grinned at her and nodded.

"Yeah, oh, and a little while after you left Deidara's old flame came to Konoha from Iwa and he found out that he was a daddy. He has a son that's three years older than me named Misuto. Aria and he are happy, though." Eneko sighed.

"So much has happened in these ten years…" She murmured. Suddenly, her face froze into nervousness and she looked straight at Niji. "Your father… What happened with your father?" She nearly whispered.

"He became a different man after you left, Mommy. He became distant and lost without you to guide him. He doesn't talk much and he won't look me in the eyes because it reminds him too much of you. But that'll all get better now that you're home, won't it Mommy?" She looked up hopefully at Eneko who smiled and brushed the hair out of her daughter's eyes.

"I hope so, Niji-chan, I really do." They slowly made their way up the stairs surrounding the hokage building. Niji looked over at Eneko, who let out a grunt and stopped climbing. "I don't think that I'm going to be able to make it all the way…I've just gotten so weak from countless battles along the way and…" She sighed, not wanting to go into details. Niji grinned.

"I'll help you Mommy. You saved my life twice when I was little, so the least that I could do is help you up a few stairs." Niji grabbed Eneko's arm and slung it over her shoulder, helping her the rest of the way up the stairs. They soon got to the hokage's office and found the door open. Eneko sat down in Naruto's chair, giggling as she thought of his expression when he realized she was alive.

"You want me to go get him for you, Mommy? I bet that I know where he is…" She sighed softly and rubbed the back of her head. Eneko grinned at her.

"Ichiraku ramen. That's where he probably is. I have a strong feeling that his appetite for ramen hasn't lessened since I've been gone. He always did love his ramen, especially when you were watching him and trying to copy his eating style, Niji-chan." Niji grinned and shook her head.

"Nope. Your strong feeling is right. Naruto _loves_ his ramen. I love ramen, but…" She shook her head. Eneko laughed, knowing exactly what she meant. "So you want to wait for him?" About that time, the door was pushed open the rest of the way and an older, much more handsome Naruto came in. Eneko smiled, even though she could tell he didn't recognize her by only half her face. His hair had grown out a little more and he was wearing a cloak similar to his father's only it was black with orange flames instead of white with red.

"Uhm…may I help you?" He asked. Eneko grinned and tossed her old headband at him. He caught it easily and looked at it, seeing the Uchiha symbol engraved in the corner. His eyes widened and he looked at Niji. "How did you get this, Niji?" Niji just grinned at him.

"_I _didn't get it anywhere, Naruto-sama. She did and she got it from the third hokage." She responded. Naruto's eyes widened even further, and he stared down at the headband again. Then he glared fiercely over at Niji, then at the woman he couldn't recognize.

"This is a sick joke, making fun of the dead like this. Tell me where you got this and I'll think about not killing you, woman." Eneko scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. This just made the Kyuubi-Hokage even more angry and he growled.

"I don't think that you _could_ kill me, Naruto-kun. You never came close to it in training, searching for Itachi all those years ago. How many years…thirteen…fourteen? Darn…I've been gone too long. I feel old." She put her hand on her head and Niji giggled quietly. Naruto growled deeply.

"Stop this foolish game and show me your face, wench." Eneko glared and yanked her hood off, leaping across his desk and holding a kunai to his throat.

"Want to try again with the names you call me, Naruto­_-kun_?" She asked, her voice dangerously low. Naruto looked as if he was about to wet himself and Niji was staring open-mouthed. He got over his shock extremely quickly and laughed nervously, holding his hands in front of him in surrender.

"S-Sorry, Eneko-chan…. I-I didn't realize that was you…" She smiled and then broke into laughter, Niji following suit quickly. Naruto just stared at her and then grinned, giving her a tight hug.

"I'm glad to see you too, Naruto-kun! You have to let me meet your kids sometime, okay? Koro and Tami, right?" She asked, her green eyes alight with excitement. Naruto chuckled before getting serious.

"I need to reinstate you as a Konoha ninja but to do that you've got to take some sort of test." Eneko looked at her fingernails and then grinned up at him.

"What about buying the oh-so great Hokage some ramen, ne, Naruto-kun?" Naruto grinned and nodded.

"I think I can let that work. When?" He asked. "I have a feeling that you need to go see everyone else. Sasuke's got today off as of now, as does Sakura…and Hinata…and…Itachi…and Fugaku…and…aw, screw it. Everyone that you want to talk to has suddenly been called to an important meeting in the hokage's office…._ now._" He waved his hand around and grinned, writing down a list quickly. "Konohamaru! Can you tell all the people on this list to come here immediately? Tell them it's important and accept no excuses!" He told him. Konohamaru came in the room and grinned.

"Yes sir, boss! I'll be back in a few minutes!" He took the piece of paper and teleported himself out of the room. Eneko laughed.

"Naruto, you've made a great hokage. I'm so proud of you." She smiled. He smiled back.

"Just wait until you see Sasuke. He's the head of the police force." He explained. She smiled softly.

"I know…and I'm proud of him too…do we just wait now?" She asked. He nodded and looked over at Niji as well.

"We all should just wait…they'll be here soon."


	3. Chapter 3

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken

**Chapter Three**

"So, when will everyone show up?" Niji asked as Eneko pulled her hood up once again, covering all but her mouth and chin. Naruto looked at the clock on the wall and grimaced.

"Considering that it's only five in the morning? It may take an hour for everyone to get here, or it may take five minutes. It all depends on how people slept." He replied. Niji laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head.

"Grandpa will be here early then…I kind of went to mom's memorial statue and he found me there at like…four this morning?" She thought. Naruto chuckled quietly and nodded and Eneko made a surprised noise.

"There's a memorial statue of me?" She asked, surprised. Naruto and Niji both looked over at her and nodded.

"Yeah. In the field where you killed Pein." Niji replied, as if it were no big deal. Eneko stared at her and Naruto looked over at her, smiling.

"When you're ready, I need to hear what happened after you teleported away from the field. All right, Eneko-chan?" Eneko nodded, waving her hand to dismiss the matter.

"I'll be ready when everyone gets here." She replied, a small smile on her face. Naruto nodded and Niji looked excited. She wanted to hear what her mother had been doing the past ten years and why she seemed so weak at times. Suddenly, the smell of smoke alerted them to someone coming in the room. Sasuke stood there. He had let his hair grow out of it's bird-like hairstyle and now it was in a short ponytail at the base of his neck. His dark eyes glinted in annoyance and amusement.

"What's this I hear about some sort of special meeting, dobe?" he asked playfully. "I was supposed to report for work in five minutes and Konohamaru suddenly tells me that I have to go to your office _and_I have the day off? Did I do something right or wrong?" He chuckled. Naruto shook his head, smiling.

"_You _didn't do anything, Sasuke. I just need you and a few more people to come to my office because I have to tell you all something." Sasuke stared at him, confused, not even noticing his niece or sister-in-law standing on the other side of the room.

"Oh, wait, is Hinata pregnant again?" He guessed. Naruto's face went a bright red and he flailed his arms around.

"No, Hinata is not pregnant again, Sasuke! Gods…" The blonde muttered, crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. The smell of smoke announced the arrival of more people and Hinata, Sakura, Deidara, Fugaku, and Akari all appeared. Eneko sighed, the one person she wanted to see the most had yet to arrive.

"What's with this meeting at five o'clock in the morning, Naruto?" Sakura growled. "I _do_have kids that I need to get to the academy or they'll skip…like usual." She sighed. Hinata chuckled softly.

"Me too, Naruto-kun. Koro and Tami need to go to the academy. Tami will want to go but unfortunately, Koro will not." She warned. Fugaku and Akari smiled slightly.

"We're just glad that Niji-chan is out of the academy. That was so troublesome." Niji let out an indignant noise and Eneko covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. Everyone looked over at them in surprise. Niji waved.

"Hi…everyone? Are we waiting for father?" She asked as if she were part of the fun. Deidara stared at her and pointed.

"When did _you_get here, yeah?" He asked, surprised that he hadn't noticed her. And now everyone was wondering who the hooded woman was. Eneko had to try really hard not to laugh because it would give her away, but everyone's expressions were so funny.

"Well, I've been here for nearly thirteen years now! I put _bows_in your hair, Deidara, you should remember." She scolded. Deidara gave her a look and blushed. Eneko clasped a hand over her mouth to keep her laughter in and Niji grinned at her. Suddenly, a final smoke smell entered the office and everyone sighed. If there was a smoke detector in here, it would have gone off and everyone would be soaked. Itachi then stood there, arms crossed, an annoyed gleam in his dark eyes. He looked worried about something and looked straight at Naruto, glaring.

"Can we get this over with quickly? My daughter disappeared again after I stopped talking last night." The raven-haired man sighed sadly. Naruto grinned at him and shook his head, crossing his own arms over his chest and looking very much like a mischievous imp.

"We _could _but I think our guest will die of lack of oxygen from holding in her laughter." Everyone looked over at Eneko, who was having to clasp her nose shut because it helped keep in the laughter. Niji started laughing and slapped her mother's back to get her breathing. Eneko took in a huge gasp of air and clasped her hand over her face again.

"Just get it over with, Naruto-sama! She's gonna die!" Niji laughed. Naruto started laughing and everyone else looked confused.

"Never mind…she's here." Itachi sighed. Niji grinned apologetically at him. He glared at her.

"I promise, Daddy, this will make up for everything." She vowed. Itachi looked at her disbelievingly before turning his attention back to the hokage. Naruto clasped his hands together and smiled at them all.

"We have a very special guest, everyone. Someone that nobody has seen for a long time and I will say this, _I_ thought it was a trick until I almost lost my head, so _nobody_call her a wench or you'll regret it!" He exclaimed. Eneko nearly lost it laughing but she kept it in, her face turning blue. Niji groaned at her mother's attempts to keep her identity a secret.

"Can we just get this over with, Naruto? I have kids and _patients_that act like little kids that I have to take care of." Sakura scolded him. Naruto glared at her before nodding and sighing.

"Take your hood off, Eneko, game over." Eneko finally let out her laughter and pulled her hood down. The air suddenly decreased in the room when everyone gasped. Itachi stared and he looked like he was about to pass out.

"How do we know it's you and not some trick done by Naruto?" Fugaku asked. Eneko blinked and shrugged.

"What if I did this?" She asked, putting her hands in front of her in a hand sign. She closed her eyes, summoning her chakra. "Wings of the Feathered Dragon." She called. Blood spurted out of two vertical cuts in her back. Niji leapt backwards, surprised. She never remembered this in her uncle's stories about her mother. The bloodstained wings unfurled from her back and she was immediately tackle-hugged by half the people in the room and approached by the others. Only Itachi stayed back and Niji went over to him.

"She's home, Daddy. I told you that she would come home." Itachi closed his eyes, smiling, and a tear fell down his face. Eneko looked over at him and frowned, and everyone parted ways to let her through. She stumbled over to Itachi, now crying, and he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair. He gently pet her hair and Niji smiled softly. Nearly everyone else looked like they were about to cry, though some of the men were trying to hide it.

"You've come back to us…" Itachi whispered softly. Eneko shook her head and wiped the tears off her face.

"I came back to _you_." She replied. He smiled and more tears fell down his face as he held her gently. Niji then began to cry, feeling the intensity of the moment. Eneko sobbed softly and shook her head again, wiping the tears off her face and then off of Itachi's.

"I'm home now, so no more acting like I've heard you acting, got it, mister? I want you to be exactly how I left you, got it?" She demanded. Itachi smiled and nodded, then kissed her softly. Niji's face then recoiled in disgust.

"Hey, Itachi!" Sasuke yelled from across the room. "Get a room!" Itachi's eyes glinted playfully as he looked over at his younger brother.

"We still _have_one, little brother! And I think we may use it!" Niji made noises like she was going to throw up and her face turned bright red.

"Daddy, that's gross!!" She yelled. Everyone started laughing. She suddenly stopped and cocked her head, interested. "Wait…does this mean I get a little brother or sister?" Itachi and Eneko's faces then turned red. Naruto then pointed at Sasuke, laughing.

"Ha! I think it'll be _Eneko_who's the next one pregnant, teme, not Hinata!" Hinata burst up laughing after letting her face turn red and Eneko's face turned a brighter red and she buried her face into Itachi's shirt. He leaned down and whispered something into her ear that caused her to blush even worse and fall over. He caught her, grinning.

"You're not getting away from me that easily, Eneko-chan. I just got you back and I am _never_letting go again." He vowed. Eneko grinned at him and pressed her lips against his.

"You won't have to, Itachi." She promised. He grinned at her and Niji made a disgusted noise.

"Hello? Nearly teenage daughter standing _right _here! I do _not_need to hear about my parent's sex lives, thank you very much." Everyone again burst out laughing, even Eneko and Itachi this time. Eneko then grinned at Itachi.

"So, have _you_given her the talk yet, or is that my privilege?" She asked. Itachi made a choking noise, as did Niji. "My job!" She laughed. Naruto cleared his throat and everyone looked at him.

"So, Eneko…" He began slowly. "About that ramen…" Eneko laughed and nodded, motioning him over.

"I'll treat you right now if you have time. I came across a _lot_of money when I was journeying." She grinned. Naruto snapped his fingers, suddenly remembering the ten-year journey.

"You need to explain why it took you so long to get back here, Eneko-chan." Naruto cried at her. She stopped and sighed, nodding. Itachi held her close and sat in a chair, causing her to sit in his lap. She giggled quietly before looking up at everyone else.

"All right, I'll tell you, but sit down, because you're in for a long tale. And all of it is, unfortunately, true. Where do you want me to start?" She asked. Sasuke blinked at her.

"Start from the beginning, nee-chan." He told her, as if it were normal. Eneko grinned at him and put a hand to her chest.

"It's been so long since I've been called 'Mommy' or 'nee-chan'…it's actually been a long time since I've been called 'Eneko' at all."

"Don't worry, Eneko. We're here now, and you don't have to worry any more…" Itachi whispered into her hair.

"All right, it all started like this…"


	4. Chapter 4

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken Chapter Four

"Alright, so you all know what happened in that clearing…Pein tried to kill Niji and Itachi couldn't get there in time, so I took it upon myself to save my daughter. Pein stabbed me in the heart but he, fortunately, didn't hurt anything vital. I, however, have better aim and killed him within a few seconds. But I wanted to make sure…after all that man had done to my family…I wanted him to pay…and I know that sounds selfish. But…I wasn't in my right mind then. I was nearly out of chakra and my life chakra was sparking up around me…I used Minato's technique…and I teleported myself as far away as I could think of…

"I ended up in a foreign land that I couldn't even understand their language…A kind lady took me in, and slowly taught me her language. I was in a land called…America…I think… She told me how to get home and so I began my journey. I turned into a bounty hunter, in sorts. I ran into a lot of people that seemed to know someone like me…

"Then, I didn't know where I was. All I knew was that I wanted to come home and I wanted to come home, now…I kept imagining what was happening here and I just wanted to come home…" She paused as a few tears fell down her face. Itachi held her closer and kissed her neck. She whimpered at his touch and Itachi looked at her neck and his eyes widened.

"What's this, Eneko?" He asked, suddenly seriously concerned. Sasuke looked over and suddenly, the curse mark placed on his shoulder started throbbing with pain. He winced and put a hand on it, causing Sakura to go over to him. Itachi pulled down the neckline of Eneko's hood and his eyes widened. On her neck was a marking that looked three little wings connecting at a center point.

"It's a curse mark…" Eneko whispered. Sasuke's eyes widened and he stood up. Akari immediately came over to her and looked.

"The curse seal of wings? That's a very rare and very powerful mark… It's more powerful than Sasuke's seal of heaven." She murmured. Eneko pulled her neckline up again and then pulled up the collar of her shirt to cover it.

"It only hurts every once in a while…I'm not inhibited by it or anything, okaa-chan." She smiled. Akari kissed her on the forehead.

"We're just glad to have you back, Eneko." Eneko smiled at her again and Itachi put his head on her shoulder and pulled her closer to him, every action telling everyone that she was his and his alone.

"Anyway…where was I? Right…so I'm there in America and I find out this…prophecy that seems to have to do with Pein…or a man like Pein anyway…and they forced me to tell them all about that sadist…and I did to the best of my abilities…I didn't know what else to do…those people weren't people you would want to hang around. They gave me something to drink and I tested it for poison and didn't find any…but afterwards I started to feel really dizzy. I tried to run away, but I didn't make it in time…

"I woke up…a few days later and this mark was on my neck…a note was lying beside me and I picked it up and I read it. It said something to the extent of 'Thank you for killing the pained one. This is something to remember us by.' I went to the police in America, or at least the first ones that I could find... I told them what all had happened but nobody seemed to believe me. They didn't seem to believe that I could use all my jutsu that I did and so, to prove myself, they made me enter some sort of fighting contest…" She paused and put a hand on her head, suddenly looking much paler than she had moments before. Itachi kept his grip on her, keeping her steady and she smiled slightly at him.

"I'm sorry, everyone…I've just…been on the road for so long…never stopping, always trying to get home…I'm so tired…" She whispered, closing her eyes and leaning against Itachi. Sakura stood and went over to the exhausted woman and waved a hand that was glowing a dull green over her.

"She's all right, everyone, just exhausted." She announced. Itachi picked her up gently and looked over at Niji.

"You, Niji, have a few meetings to go to. I heard that your sensei and teammates were going to be going on a mission for a few days, hm?" He looked at her. Her mouth dropped open and she stared at him.

"But, Daddy! Mom just came home! I don't want to go on some stupid easy B ranked mission! I _want_ to learn more about my mother. _You_ never told me anything about her, Daddy." She glared at him. He glared back.

"March, young lady. You made a commitment when you put on that headband and you're going to uphold it. Uchihas don't go back on promises." Niji's eyes sparked with flames, reminding everyone so much of Eneko when she was angry.

"Oh, really? Uchihas don't go back on promises, hm? What about your promise to always know where mom was? What happened to that one? What happen to never believing the other one would leave you? What happened to those promises, father?" She spat, glaring at him. Itachi glared at her.

"Get. Moving." He growled. She spun on her heel and walked out of the office. Itachi sighed and smiled down at Eneko. "You left me with a second you, Eneko." He murmured to her. Sakura's eyes suddenly widened and she grabbed Hinata's wrist, dragging her off.

"Hinata! The kids!" She called. Hinata's pale eyes then widened and both women teleported away, hurrying to make sure their children all got to school. Naruto and Sasuke both looked at each other with grins and Naruto started filing the papers that were on his desk.

"Itachi." He called to the dark-haired man. "I'll want a personal report on how Eneko is doing when she wakes up. Am I understood?" He asked, his voice serious, but he was smiling. Itachi looked over and nodded.

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Naruto grinned childishly and put his hands on the back of his head.

"You want to know something? I don't think that I ever get tired of hearing that…." He grinned, leaning back in his chair. Itachi and Sasuke both looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Deidara scoffed and Fugaku and Akari sighed. Deidara started moving toward the door.

"Well, that means that Misuto'll be wanting his morning art lessons and battle practice. See ya, yeah." He called, leaving. Fugaku groaned and popped his back.

"Akari, I think it's time that we'd best be getting back home. The hokage has better things to do than deal with a couple of old people like us." He chuckled. She smiled and nodded.

"I think you're right, honey. Bye boys! Itachi, make sure you tell us about Eneko when she wakes up, all right?" She asked. Itachi nodded and Sasuke looked over at her, an odd expression on his face.

"You guys aren't _old_…" He told them. Fugaku and Akari both just laughed and left the room. Sasuke looked over at Itachi and smiled.

"Guess you're stuck with me today. Naruto-dobe here gave me the day off." He thrust a thumb in Naruto's general direction. Suddenly, his face became serious and he looked at the sleeping woman in Itachi's arms. "What about that curse seal, Itachi? It caused mine to flare up in pain and Orochimaru's been dead for nearly eleven years now. What do you think that means?" Itachi looked down and Eneko's peaceful face and smiled softly.

"Whatever it means, Sasuke, I could care less. I'm just happy that she's home…" He whispered. Sasuke smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder.

"So are we all, Itachi. Your daughter has been the strongest one through all of this. Hey, maybe Eneko can get you to stop being such a lost idiot and get back to being a good father and husband." The younger man teased. Itachi glared at him and sighed.

"That hurts, little brother. Now come on; I've got to get Ene-koi home." He grinned at his younger brother, who grinned back and followed him out of the office. They then traveled in silence for the rest of the way, but unlike the awkward silences that some people shared, this one was comfortable and didn't leave either Uchihas uncomfortable. They soon got to the rebuilt house that the three Uchiha family had once shared. After the fire, it had been a long road to recovery for both Niji and Itachi, but they had survived. And now, Niji's efforts of getting everyone else to believe that Eneko was alive were finally paying off.

Itachi set his beloved down on the bed in his room, knowing that they would be sharing it soon enough anyway. He invited Sasuke to sit and have some tea or the like while Eneko slept. They laughed over some old memory and Sasuke kept teasing Itachi about Eneko when they heard a crash coming from their room. Itachi leapt to his feet and ran into the other room. Eneko was standing up, facing away from him, when he walked in. She turned when she heard him enter and he froze. She looked unconscious but she was standing up. His memory traced back to when she was under mind control from Pein and she looked dead on her feet.

"_Get out of my sight._" She called, but Itachi couldn't understand a word she was saying. She was speaking in some different language. "_Did you not hear me? I said get away while you can. They're after me, always after me. Don't be caught up in their trap as I did. Don't let them catch you like they caught me. Don't let them make you fight._" She was calling to him. Sasuke ran in and stared, hearing the foreign language. The glazed look was then gone from her eyes as she actually woke up. She yawned and looked over at the two Uchihas staring at her.

"What? What did I do?" She asked. Sasuke and Itachi both stared at her. She blinked, confused. "Hello? Itachi? Sasuke? Are you two all right? Do I need to get Sakura-chan?" She asked. Itachi hesitantly went over toward her and felt her forehead.

"All right…so you don't have a fever…Sasuke? You live with a medic, what type of sickness would cause spouting out things in unknown languages?" Itachi called back to his younger brother. Eneko smiled softly and pushed his hand away.

"It was English, Itachi. It wasn't just some random language. I have dreams about when I was in America and I've heard it causes adverse affects. In other words, talking in my sleep, walking in my sleep, and the occasional punch or five…" She smiled. Itachi sighed in relief, thinking that she was sick or something of the sort.

"When's Niji coming home?" She asked. Sasuke and Itachi both stared at her. They both shared the same thought. Wasn't Eneko unconscious when Niji was sent away on her mission? She smiled, knowing exactly what they were thinking. "I've learned a few tricks along the way home, boys. I can be unconscious but still be completely aware of what's going on outside of my body. I just can't force myself to wake up sometimes is the only thing…" She narrowed her eyes. Sasuke suddenly grasped his shoulder, grunting with pain.

"Sorry, Sasuke. This stupid thing apparently has affects on your mark as well…" She apologized. Itachi waved it off.

"He's fine. His cherry blossom will kiss it and make it all better later." Sasuke glared at him before the two boys burst into laughter. Eneko smiled.

_It's good to be home…at last! _


	5. Chapter 5

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken

**Chapter Five**

Eneko woke with a start, throwing the sheets off of herself and standing up, breathing heavily. Itachi grumbled and opened one eye, clearly still asleep. He rubbed his eye and stretched slightly, his jaw opening as he let out a huge yawn.

"Eneko? What's the matter?" He murmured softly. She looked back and smiled at him, leaning down and kissing him on the forehead.

"Nothing, Itachi-kun, just a bad dream. That's all. Go back to sleep all right?" She asked him. He nodded slightly, turning over and closing his eyes again. Eneko smiled softly at him before turning away and putting a hand to her chest. It was all a dream. She had to keep repeating it to herself. It wasn't going to be another vision. She was going to make sure of it. She slowly and quietly walked out of the room and out into the open air. It had taken her a little while, but she was getting accustomed to the changes around her household. They still lived in the same place, Deidara had made sure of that, but the house design was different than she had originally made it. She let the soft wind blow her hair around as she bathed in the moon's peaceful, comforting glow.

"Mom?" A small voice asked. Eneko turned around to see Niji standing in the doorway, rubbing her eye. "What are you doing up this early?" She asked. Eneko looked at her, surprised to find that she was already dressed.

"I had another nightmare is all, Niji. And what are you doing ready to go out and train? It can't be later than four in the morning." She blinked slightly, keeping her voice down so that she wouldn't disturb anyone's sleeping.

"I always train early, it's the only time when this city seems at peace with itself. Sometimes I go and visit Bokura and Nekura on graveyard shift, but other times, times like this when the moon is full, I go to your memorial before I train. I guess I don't have to do that anymore, do I?" She smiled. Eneko smiled back at her daughter and shook her head.

"I guess not, Niji-chan. But give me a moment. I want to see what everyone has been remembering me by." She murmured. She did a quick hand seal and Niji studied it, realizing that she had never seen anything like it. Suddenly, in a flurry of black feathers, Eneko was standing before her, fully dressed in a new outfit. She had a fishnet undershirt, a white vest with the yin-yang symbol printed on it, black pants that went down to her calves and black nin-sandals. A small charm with the yin-yang symbol on it hung around her waist along with her hitai-ate. Niji stared in surprise; she had never seen any type of jutsu like that.

"Okay, Mom, you have _got_ to teach me that one." She told her mother, smiling. Eneko smiled and laughed softly.

"All in good time, my little rainbow. Now, come on and show me where that little statue that Deidara-kun made of me." She put a hand on her waist. Niji smiled and nodded, following a path down into the clearing where she and Pein had fought, not far from their house. Eneko stopped at the edge, replaying the scene in her head. Everything was happening over in her memory and she clutched her head in pain, falling to her knees. Niji, who had kept walking, suddenly looked back, worried. She ran towards Eneko, wrapping her arms around her mother tightly.

"Mom, it's okay. Everything's all over now. Pein is dead. You protected me, mom, you did your job." Niji whispered softly. Eneko looked up at her and hugged her back.

"I know, Niji…I know…" She muttered weakly, using Niji's support to stand up again. Slowly they made their way to the small statue and Eneko knelt in front of it, inspecting it. She made a scoffing noise and stood up, hands over her chest. Niji stared at her, slightly alarmed, but mostly confused as to what her mother was doing.

"Mom? Is something wrong?" She asked. Eneko was glaring at the sculpture, a playful gleam in her emerald eyes.

"I think that Deidara's going to have to be smacked. I'm not that short." She grinned playfully. Niji burst out laughing and Eneko followed her into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Pretty soon, they were both standing and facing each other, and Eneko suddenly got into a battle position. Niji stared at her confused. Eneko grinned slightly and motioned her forward, keeping her fans in her holsters.

"Niji-chan! It's time for you to train with your mother. What's your jutsu specialty?" She asked, circling the clearing. Niji whipped out her fans so fast that Eneko smiled in approval.

"My specialties are wind, fire, wood, and genjutsu." She responded. Eneko nodded approvingly and flipped out her own fans. Instead of being a pale cream color with winged dragons imprinted all over them, Eneko's new fans were a dark, dark blue with birds of paradise imprinted on them. The razor blades were extremely sharp and flicked the reflection of anything that passed near them.

"So, I see that you've inherited traits from both myself and your father. That's very interesting, Niji-chan. Too bad that you don't know the dragon's genjutsu or any of my wood-style techniques." Niji smiled and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"I know that it's a shame, but now that you're home and here, you can teach me. Can you not?" She asked, tilting her head to the side and grinning. Eneko smiled and flicked her fans open with a snap. Niji did the same and the two women disappeared from sight for a split second before colliding in mid-air in a heated combat. Eneko walked away, not looking scratched at all. Niji on the other hand, had multiple small, shallow cuts that wouldn't be very difficult to heal at all. Eneko smiled and laughed at Niji's disbelieving expression.

"You've got to remember, Niji, that I've spent the last ten years of my life training. All over the otherworld." Niji smiled and winced slightly. Eneko walked over to her, slipping her fans back into their holsters before her hands started to glow a dull green and a calming, soothing feeling spread all over Niji's body. The cuts on her skin healed and Eneko was offering her a hand to stand up. She took it and her mother pulled her to her feet.

"You've got strong potential, my little Niji-chan, but you're much too overconfident. Much like your father." She smiled slightly. Niji quietly noticed the sad, faraway expression on her face. Niji put her head on her mother's shoulder and hugged her tightly.

"But I want to be more like you, Mommy. I've never stopped believing in you. Ever." She promised. Eneko laughed and hugged her daughter back.

"I hope you've forgiven me for leaving all those years ago. If there had been any other way to do what I did I would have, my little girl, believe me. I couldn't let him terrorize anyone else ever again. He'd nearly killed you." Niji shook her head and held her mother even tighter.

"Never was there anything to forgive, Mom. You did what you thought was for the best and I respect that. I've often thought about what I would have done in your situation. I may have found a quicker way back though." The dark-haired girl teased. Eneko swatted at her playfully. The two female kunoichi started sharing training tips and laughing at something Niji had told her about Itachi. Eneko started sharing stories about when she and Itachi were younger. Suddenly, the brown-haired woman's eyes narrowed and she spun around, razor-bladed fan at the pale neck of the person behind her. Itachi's eyes went wide, as did both Niji and Eneko's. She snapped her fan back into place and shoved it in her holster before bowing low to the ground.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" She apologized immediately. Itachi looked at her confused before pulling her up to face him. Her eyes were bright with fear and he hugged her tightly.

"I know that you didn't mean anything by it, Eneko-chan. You're all right. I'm not angry. Niji, is this some sort of women thing?" Itachi asked his daughter as he tried to comfort his wife. Eneko suddenly smacked him over the head and put her hands on her hips.

"Just because a woman does something unexpected, that does not mean that they're on their cycle, Itachi. By the gods, you're such a man." She muttered and stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. Itachi's eyes were wide with confusion and he rubbed the sore spot on his head.

"I was just worried that something had happened to you or Niji because neither of you were there when I woke up. By the gods, you're such a woman." He added jokingly and she busted into laughter. Niji just stared at her parents, confused and then smiled slightly. Her parents were finally back and together. Eneko laughed and suddenly pulled her into the hug along with herself and Itachi. They all laughed before Eneko leapt backwards and tackled Sasuke to the ground.

"By the gods, why do you Uchihas keep sneaking up on me today? That's three of you and it's only, what, seven in the morning? Wait, what are you doing here?" She asked quickly at the dark-haired younger of the Uchiha brothers. Sasuke gasped for breath and Eneko quickly jumped off of him.

"Just thought I'd deliver Naruto's message before he freaked out even more." He wheezed. Eneko made a face and helped him to his feet, quickly dusting him off and tilting her head. "He wants you to teach at the academy with Iruka until you get back on your feet. He feels that a weeks worth of being here is plenty of time to get at least a little used to getting back in your surroundings and oh by the gods I've turned into a sorry little messenger boy." He smacked himself on the forehead as reality hit him. Eneko laughed and kissed the spot where he had hit himself.

"You're not a messenger boy, Sasuke." She leaned down and whispered in his ear. "You're a messenger _man_. This fact proven by the fact that you've got a couple of beautiful children who need to come over and meet their aunt sometime. Hint hint." Sasuke laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, Eneko-nee-chan. I'll bring over the kids sometime to see you, but they've got a test today in the academy. Speaking of, you've got to get going if you want to get there in time." Eneko looked to the sky and her eyes widened. She ran over to Itachi and Niji and kissed them both on the forehead.

"I'll be back in a few hours you two, love you, see you, bye!" She called as she ran off in the direction of the academy. Niji slowly turned to her father and stared at him.

"Papa, was Mom _always_ this hyper when she was my age?" She asked, her eyebrow twitching. Sasuke snickered and Itachi started laughing.

"Actually, yes. Oh, you've no idea how good it is to have her back in our lives, Niji-chan." Niji smiled at her father and realized for the first time in ten years, his smile reached his eyes and he looked truly happy.

"Yes, Papa, yes I do…I understand perfectly." She murmured as she hugged him tightly.


	6. Chapter 6

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken

**Chapter Six**

"All right, class. So, in conclusion of this lesson, the element of surprise is very good in these sorts of missions. If you can learn to sneak up on your opponent's blind spot, you can expose them and finish your mission quickly. That way, you can get back to anyone waiting for you here and take a nice hot bath. Those are wonderful after a long, hard mission like this, by the way." Eneko grinned as she turned toward her giggling class.

"Any questions?" She asked. A few hands shot into the air and Eneko looked over them, smiling slightly. "All right, what's your question, Tami-chan?" The brown-haired kunoichi asked the navy-blue-haired girl with bright blue eyes. Tami put her hand down before pointing to the diagram she had drawn on the board.

"Where would be that opponent's blind spot, Eneko-sensei?" She asked quietly. Eneko turned back to the diagram and studied it quickly. She picked up the chalk and drew a Konoha symbol on the opposite side of the board. She then drew a line with a kunai attached to it, pointing to a certain spot.

"Right there. You see, because, if a group of our Konoha ninja were to go this way." She motioned to the line. "They could bypass any security measures in the area because…" She pointed to the buildings she had drawn. "These would be the most guarded areas because they are the treasuries and people love their money. If we wanted to attack, it would have to be in the place that would be least guarded. Understand?" Tami nodded, writing everything down in her notes. Eneko noticed a few other children doing the same thing. She grinned. She had good students for only being six or seven years old.

"Any more questions?" She asked. Another hand shot up. This time, it belonged to a boy with soft black hair and the most doe-like black eyes with little green flecks in them. She smiled. "All right, Tai. Ask away." She told him.

"Eneko-oba-sensei?" He asked shyly. Eneko smiled comfortingly at him and motioned for him to continue. "Well, why couldn't you just attack from the other side? I mean, guards would probably be patrolling that area too because it's the housing part where the villagers sleep, isn't it? Wouldn't they want to guard that part the most?" He asked innocently. Eneko smiled sadly at him before turning and erasing the diagram on the board.

"No, Tai. Because most daimyos, the rulers of small villages like that, don't care about anything the people do. The only thing that the daimyos care about are the taxes given to them by their villagers. Now, our hokage, Naruto-kun, on the other hand, is nothing like those daimyos. Our hokage love the _people_ of his village more than he does the village itself and he would do anything to protect each and every one of us." The class was smiling and Tami looked extremely happy.

"Now, what should we learn about now? I'm going to let you guys choose now." She grinned. Almost at once, requests were being thrown out by many of the students in the classroom and Eneko started writing some of them on the board. She stopped as she wrote down the last request and looked them over. She then turned to the class and smiled.

"I see that some of you want to know about me and my past, do you not?" A large group of students answered with a 'yes' and nobody objected. Eneko sat on her desk and crossed her legs, grinning. "Well, I was born in the Village Hidden In The Twilight, which is a long ways away from here. My mother and father trained me until I was about twelve years old when I was told that I had to come here to be married to a man named Uchiha Itachi. At first, I didn't want to marry him because I didn't know anything about him, but once I got to know him, I fell in love. And then we were going to get married but I had to go on a mission. Those kinds of things happen and you're going to have to learn not to be mad at the hokage, all right?

"Well, on that mission, my whole team died, except for me and it was a close call. Someone had told Itachi that I was dead and he got angry and when I got back, he was gone. So I took care of my soon-to-be younger brother, Sasuke and trained him and he lived with me for a while. Then, as Sasuke was participating in the chuunin exams, we decided that we were going to find Itachi. Naruto, the hokage, came with us because I considered him my younger brother as well. It took us seven months on the road, but we finally found him and brought him home. And then –" She was suddenly cut off as Iruka came into the room.

"Well, hello there, Iruka-kun. How are you doing?" She asked, grinning. The tanned shinobi blinked at her and then looked at the students, who were all glaring at him for interrupting her story.

"Did I miss something, Eneko?" He asked. She smiled and shook her head, motioning for her class to stand down as she talked with Iruka. "Well, anyway, I've asked the head of the police force to come down and talk to the children about shinobi matters if you choose to be on the police force. Do you mind?" Eneko looked at the kids and shook her head.

"Of course I don't mind. Hey, kids, Sasuke-kun's coming to talk to everyone so I want everyone on their best behavior. I'm going to be standing right here and you all know what I'll do if one of you misbehaves." She threatened lightly. The whole class let out a collective gasp before sitting up straight. Iruka stared at them before turning to Eneko and shaking his head.

"I don't know how you do it, Eneko. Anyway, I'm going to get Sasuke. I'll be right back." He said as he left the room. The kids all looked towards Eneko as she popped her neck. Suddenly, she looked back at them with a playful gleam in her eyes.

"Hey, kids, what would you say about showing our police captain the proper way to dispatch of enemies without the use of force or kunai?" She grinned. The kids started giggling and they saluted.

"Hai, sensei!" Was the collective response. Suddenly, the door opened as Iruka and Sasuke stepped through it. The children tensed and Eneko held up her hand for them not to attack just yet. He got farther into the room and still Eneko held up the signal to stand down. Suddenly, as he was standing in the middle of the room with his guard completely down, she moved her hand in a chopping motion. Twenty different children leaped on top of Sasuke, causing him to cry out in surprise and Eneko to fall backwards off of her desk laughing.

"Eneko! Tell them to stand down!" The dark-haired man cried from within the mass of writhing children. Eneko slowly got to her feet and held back her laughs.

"All right, kiddies. Good training exercise. Stand down and sit back in your seats so that we can listen to Sasuke-kun." She ordered. Almost immediately, the attack ceased and the kids were back in their seats, attentive and quiet as if waiting the whole time. Sasuke picked himself off the ground and gave a sharp glare to Eneko, who just laughed.

Sasuke started his long lecture and the kids were still listening intently. Some of them were even taking notes and Eneko smiled, realizing that some of them might actually want to be on the police force when they grew older. She smiled at the peacefulness of it all, before a splitting pain entered her neck and her eyes glazed over. In her own mind she saw a familiar home that she had spent a lot of time in and three people that she had grown to know. In the vision, she saw a man with spiky orange hair slaughter them in cold blood. Suddenly, she was trapped within her own mind and couldn't control her movements. It was as if she was watching everything through a television screen and couldn't control anything. She saw herself cut down Iruka and Sasuke and send them flying out of the room. She cried out for it all to stop when she saw herself turn with a malicious smirk towards her class. She saw herself try and cut down Tami and Tai, and then suddenly felt a pain in her side and saw herself crash into the wall opposite the door. She then saw Itachi standing there and Naruto leaning protectively over the children. She watched herself fight with Itachi and thanked him profusely for keeping her from hurting the children.

Suddenly, the cursed part of herself let go and she felt herself take control again. She blinked open her eyes just as Itachi charged at her with a kunai knife. Her eyes widened as it came into contact with her stomach.

"Itachi…" She choked out. His eyes then widened. "That…hurt." She slumped over him and he caught her. She set to work on healing the gash in her stomach. Naruto helped Iruka and Sasuke take the children to a separate classroom before coming back into the room.

"Eneko. I demand to know what's going on! You nearly killed my daughter!" Naruto demanded, barely keeping his rage in check. Eneko looked up at him apologetically before nodding.

"It was the curse mark, Naruto-sama. I'm sorry…but let me explain everything else that happened on my journey over the last decade." Naruto nodded, trying to calm down and Itachi held her close, upset that he had hurt her.

"After having to fight people in America, the people that put this curse mark on me told me that it was them that was preventing me from coming home. It was two years into my journey and they sent me away from America to a land called China to train with a wise old man. I trained with him for another three years before they made me fight again, but I was quicker than that. I killed them before they could get me to fight again. There was only one left and he pulled down the hood that he always used. I was shocked to say the least, because the man looked exactly like Pein did. He told me that we would meet again, and the next time, I would die. I went back to the old man, realizing a few things. In the otherworld, everyone's got a double that lives here in this world. I had already met Pein's double, his name was Payne, but now I realized that the old man I had been taught under was Sarutobi-sensei's double. He seemed to recognize me, and he told me where I should go next; a country called Japan.

They spoke our tongue, and I got around much faster, but the only thing that I wanted to do was go home. I was tired of journeying, tired of running, tired of dreaming. I just stopped. That was when Taki found me. He was Itachi's double and he had a daughter named Ijin. I became a second mother for Ijin because hers had died in a car accident when Ijin was two. I stayed with them for two years before Taki finally figured out how I could get home. He had started doing research for me and in return, I went out and found Neko, his wife, who had had amnesia before I had found her. She returned home and Taki showed me back to the portal where I shunshined to Suna. I stayed there for another month before beginning my journey home. I was found by my mother and taken in by my Clan again for about three months before they finally deemed me well enough to come home. I then fought Niji at the gate and the rest is history." She explained softly. Itachi hugged her tightly and Naruto had become sobered at her story. Suddenly, her eyes hardened with determination.

"And now, I'm going back to Japan…and saving Neko, Taki, and Ijin."


	7. Chapter 7

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken Chapter Seven

"Are you insane, Eneko? It took you ten years to get back the first time! I'm not going to let you go again." Itachi growled at her protectively. Eneko gave him a pleading look but it fell on blind eyes. She turned to Naruto with a tearful look.

"Please, Naruto? Let me take it as a personal mission. Taki was my _family_ when I had none. If you knew that Iruka or Kakashi was going to die, wouldn't you want to do the same thing? Please, let me go and warn him about what's going to happen. Maybe I can prevent it." She begged him. Naruto looked hesitant. That bit about Iruka and Kakashi stung, but he couldn't bring himself to tear her away from Itachi and Niji again.

"I'm sorry, Eneko, but I can't let you do that. You're needed here." He finally sighed apologetically. A tear fell down her face slowly as she looked away from the both of them. She broke out of Itachi's grasp and looked down at both of them with a fiery gaze.

"Naruto, I will remember this the next time you need my help." She warned icily. A dangerous aura nearly suffocated the both of them as she turned on her heel and walked out the door in an icy rage. She quickly searched around before quickly heading for her house. She was going to help Taki, Ijin, and Neko, even if it cost her Naruto and Itachi's trust. As she was rummaging through her things, packing what she thought she would need, she sensed someone behind her.

"Mom, what are you doing? Do you have a mission?" She heard Niji's voice and tensed. Eneko spun around to face her confused daughter and bit her lip in hesitation. She then hardened herself and shook her head.

"No, Niji-chan. I'm going back to the otherworld." Niji's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she shook her head, walking over and unpacking what her mother was packing.

"No, Mom, you're not leaving us again. I refuse to let you leave me again. You don't know what it did to me the first time." She muttered. Eneko's eyes sparkled with amusement at how much she was like her father before quickly packing everything again.

"If you don't want to be away from me so much, why don't you come along?" She sighed. "Niji, honey, you don't understand. I had a vision, a premonition if you will, that the people I considered my family in the otherworld were going to die because of me. Because they helped _me_. And I refuse to let that vision come true." Niji's eyes widened and she smirked, running toward the closet and taking her mission bag out.

"If it means that much to you, Mom, then I'm coming with you. I want to meet your otherworld family." Eneko laughs and nods, helping Niji to pack quickly. "Where are we going to go, Mom?" Niji asked suddenly.

"Well, here's what I have figured out. There are different portals around both the worlds that lead to the opposite world. The one here in Konoha is located in Pein's clearing and leads to America. The one in Suna, where I came out of, leads to Japan, where Taki and his family are. That's where we're headed. Come on, let's hurry." Eneko said quickly as she started running down the road. Niji stopped her as they got to the gate. Bokura and Nekura had gotten moved onto daylight guard shift then and she explained what was going on.

"Now, remember you two. If someone asks if we came this way, you know nothing about us. Right?" They saluted her and all laughed. Niji and Eneko started for Suna again, going at double speed in case Naruto sent the ANBU after them. Eneko took a back way, one that she didn't think very many other people knew about, but she wouldn't tell Niji why. Suddenly, Eneko stopped leaping through the tree branches and ducked under the undergrowth of the forest, right outside the sand barrier leading to Suna. She moved a few rocks around that led to a secret tunnel. She slid down it, Niji following quickly.

"Mom, how did you even manage to find this place?" Niji growled sorely as she made her way through the dark tunnel. She heard her mother laugh quietly.

"When traveling, Niji-chan, you make it your business to learn how to stay out of people's line of sight." She responded. Niji nodded, understanding the situation, before Eneko suddenly jumped upwards. Light filled Niji's vision as they appeared near the edges of the Sand Village.

"Dang…why don't we tell this to Naruto-sama or someone like that? It usually takes three days to get to the sand village and we got here in three hours. Mom?" She asked, realizing that her mother had disappeared. Niji got up and out of the tunnel, covering it back up carefully, before going in search of her mother. She got halfway into the city before hearing a voice coming from her right.

"Niji, what are you doing?" Eneko asked, Gaara standing next to her, both blinking in confusion. Niji opened her mouth to respond before shaking her head to dismiss the matter. Eneko turned to Gaara, smiling. "Gaara-kun. I need you to show me where I fell so that I can get back to the otherworld, okay?" She asked. Gaara gave her an odd look and shook his head.

"Show me that you've got permission from Naruto to go on a personal mission and I'll show you where you fell." He countered. She made a whining noise and then smirked sadistically.

"Or should I just take that seal off of your stomach?" She asked in a slow, dark voice. Gaara's eyes widened before he regained his composure and coughed lightly into his fist.

"Follow me." He ordered, turning around and walking away. Eneko giggled and followed, giving Niji a grin. Niji grinned back, holding in her laughter. Naruto had told her of the seal that Eneko had kindly placed over Shukaku's seal right before they had left to find Itachi. Gaara wound his way through the crowds, the two Konoha kunoichi followed swiftly, winding their way after him with no difficulties. As Gaara slowed to a stop, Eneko smiled, figuring it out. She went over and kissed Gaara on the cheek.

"Thank you, Gaara-kun. You've no idea how much that this means to me." Gaara just nodded and smiled, walking away to send Naruto word that two of his kunoichi passed through his village. Eneko motioned Niji over and wrapped Niji's arms around Eneko's waist tightly. Suddenly, to Niji's surprise and horror, she used a shunshin technique and they passed through a portal of flashing colors and deafening sounds until they landed in a small grassy clearing with sakura trees everywhere. Eneko laughed as she stood up and let the petals fall on her face. Niji stared at her mother, horrified, before Eneko suddenly made another delighted noise. She waved frantically at another girl, around Niji's height with black hair. She was turned away from Niji, so she couldn't see the girl, but Niji was still horrified at how comfortable her mother seemed to be in situations like this, especially when the situation included being in a total different dimension. Eneko looked back and motioned her over, so she shakily walked over to the woman that had given her life.

"Niji-chan, I'd like you to meet the little girl I was taking care of while I was here. Niji, this is Taki and Neko's daughter, Ijin. Ijin-chan, this is my daughter, Niji." The two girls met face-to-face, took one look at each other, and let out a shrill scream.

"You look just like me!" Both girls shrieked. Though they had the same height and the same colored hair, Niji still had her mother's emerald green eyes while Ijin had the dark eyes of a Japanese native. Both girls spun around and turned to Eneko, who was smiling happily while looking up at the sakura trees. She stopped and blinked in confusion as the both of them glared at her. She shrugged and smiled again.

"Everyone's got a double in this world. Remember when I first saw your mother, Ijin-chan?" Eneko asked the dark-eyed girl. Ijin's eyes widened and she nodded, a smile playing on her features. "Ijin, can you take us to your house? I've got something extremely important to tell your parents. It's one of two reasons I came back here?" Niji looked at her confused, but before she could ask about the second reason, Ijin nodded and started walking off, Eneko following quickly.

Niji followed, but couldn't shrug off the feeling that someone was watching her. She turned and looked behind her, but couldn't see anything. She tried everything to ignore it, but her kunoichi training prevented her from doing so. The group soon came to a house on the edge of a city and Ijin opened the door, letting the two Konoha girls inside. A woman came out of the kitchen, drying a plate with a towel and looking back over her shoulder.

"Ijin-chan, you're late! What kept - " The woman's eyes widened and she dropped the plate that she was holding with a loud crash. Ijin and Eneko both rushed to pick up the plate shards. The woman kneeled down and locked eyes with Eneko. The woman looked almost exactly like here only with dark eyes and a darker shade of brown hair. Niji concluded that that must be Neko, her mother's double in this world. Eneko let out a small laugh.

"Neko, you're still as clumsy as always, aren't you? You haven't changed a bit." Eneko smiled. Neko's shocked expression lessened and she laughed, hugging her Konoha double.

"Oh, Eneko, we were wondering if you would ever come back to visit. Taki! Taki, Eneko's back!" Neko called back to the kitchen. A man rushed out of the kitchen. He looked a lot like Itachi, but he didn't have the two lines running down either sides of his face, nor the Uchiha grace that Niji's father possessed.

"Eneko? Oh, gods, it _is_ you! How have you been?" He asked, walking over and giving her a friendly hug. Niji smiled slightly at the tenderness of the situation before Eneko motioned her over.

"Taki, Neko, I'd like the both of you to meet my daughter, Niji." The green-eyed woman said softly. Niji smiled and waved slightly, trying to be polite. Taki and Neko looked back and forth from her, to Ijin who was throwing the plate shards away. Taki ran a hand through his hair before motioning for everyone to sit down.

"So, Eneko, to what do we owe the pleasure of this unexpected visit." Eneko sighed slightly and Niji put a hand on her back, urging her on so that, for one, she could figure out what the second reason was, and two, they could go home.

"I'm sorry, Taki, but the reason I'm here isn't a good one. You remember this, don't you?" Eneko pulled down the collar of her shirt, showing the cursed seal. The family of three remembered the flashes of murderous intent and nodded slightly. "Well, it gave me a vision. A horrible vision which I'm trying to prevent. It showed me your murders at the hands of the one who was chasing me for so long." Neko gasped and Taki wrapped his arm around her. Ijin looked horrified. "I came to try and stop it, Taki, please, don't hold it against me. I didn't want any of you to die…" She whispered softly. Niji could tell that this was hard for her, telling her 'family' that she was going to be the cause of their deaths. Taki merely smiled and stood up.

"I'm not holding it against you, Eneko. We'll be prepared. And thank you for warning us, and coming to visit. You should bring Itachi next time, all right?" Eneko stood as well, nodding slightly with a small smile on his face.

"That'll be a chore, Taki. He's like you. Very stubborn." Both of them shared a small laugh before Eneko said good-bye and pulled Niji out of the house with her. They started walking down a long path, into the city, while Eneko rummaged through her bag and pulled out a box full of money.

"Mom? What do we need that for? And what's the second reason you came here?" Niji asked softly. Eneko looked over at her and smiled slightly.

"Well, there's something that I haven't had the chance to tell you or your father yet. It's – " She was cut off by the sound of loud footsteps. Both she and Niji pulled out kunai knives and spun around on the ready, but what it was hit them both. Ijin was running up to them, covered in blood, with tears streaming down her face.

"Eneko! It didn't work! Just after you left a man with orange hair and piercings on his face came and…" The young girl stopped, not wanting to go on. Eneko hugged her tightly, dropping her kunai knife and looked at Niji with tears in her eyes. The woman leaned down and pet Ijin's hair softly.

"I'm sorry, Taki…I was too late…" She whispered softly. "I'm so sorry…"


	8. Chapter 8

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken Chapter Eight

"Mom? What are we going to do with Ijin?" Niji asked as Eneko laid the girl onto the bed in the hotel room that Eneko had rented for the night. The brown-haired woman looked back at her daughter with a soft smile.

"I'm going to adopt her, Niji-chan. You're going to have an almost twin sister and she's going to come back to Konoha with us." Niji nodded slightly, understanding her mother's reasons. Eneko felt as if it was her fault that Ijin's parent's had died, so she felt it her duty to take care of the young girl. Niji felt as if she would have most likely done the same thing in her mother's position. Suddenly a thought came to her and she put a hand on her mother's back.

"Mom? What else are we going to do here before we get to go home?" Eneko looked back at her before looking down at Ijin again.

"Well, Niji-chan, I'm not sure how to explain myself at the moment. Wait until we get there some time within the next two days." The woman said, exhaustion creeping into her voice. Niji nodded slightly and laid down on the bed opposite the one her double was on. After a few moments of thought, she was asleep.

Both Niji and Ijin woke up at around the same time to find that Eneko was already awake and packing what little belongings they brought with them. She motioned for the both of them to be silent and got them both up and dressed. Then, silently, they exited the hotel, signed out, and began their way to the airport.

"Mom? Why are we going so silently?" Niji asked quietly. Eneko gave her a silencing look and continued on. They soon got to an airport and boarded onto a plane, sitting silently until they were off the ground. Eneko then leaned back in her chair, relief evident all over her features.

"Eneko-chan? What's going on?" Ijin asked quietly. Eneko looked over at the both of them and gave a small smile, but Niji could see her shaking.

"Well, we're going to America." She responded. Niji stopped and stared at her, remembering that name from the first part of Eneko's retelling of her journeys. As she was about to ask why her mother would go back to the place where this all began, a different thought came to her.

"Well, mother, then why in the name of the Fourth did you rush us to the airport and demand that we be so quiet if we were just 'going to America'?" She responded, knowing that her tone might get her in trouble later, but she desperately wanted to know. Eneko winced lightly and looked off into space for a few moments, obviously trying to come up with some excuse, but not finding any that made any sense. Finally, she closed her eyes and sighed.

"Because Payne was so close that I could feel his chakra signature…" Ijin whimpered quietly and Niji's eyes shot wide open. "And he only has a chakra signature because he performed a ritual that allowed Pein's vengeful spirit to inhabit his body and give him the chakra he once possessed." Eneko sighed sadly, pressing her face into her hands. Niji rubbed her mother's back gently, confused as to why she was so upset.

"Mom? What's the matter? It's not your fault that Payne's an evil man that'll do anything for power." She murmured softly. Eneko looked up and Niji was surprised to see tears falling down her mother's face.

"But it is my fault, Niji-chan. If I hadn't have been so stupid as to think that by transporting Pein to a different world his reign of terror would stop, none of these things would have happened. Payne wouldn't have learned of chakra, Taki and Neko wouldn't have been killed, and Sachi…" Eneko trailed off, putting her face in her hands again.

"My parent's deaths weren't your fault Eneko and I don't blame you for them and they wouldn't have either. I'm glad that you came into my life. You gave me hope and someone to love when my father was being depressed and drinking heavily. You caused him to become a better parent, even if it lasted for only a year or two. Please, Eneko, stop beating yourself up over this whole thing." Ijin scolded her foster mother. Eneko looked at her and nodded slightly, folding her hands in her lap and sitting up straight.

"Ijin, you can call me Eneko if you'd like to, but you're my daughter now. You're going to come live with Itachi, Niji, and I in Konoha. You'll be able to meet everyone who I told stories about. So, if you want to call me Eneko, that's fine, but I think it'd be less confusing if you called me 'mom'." Eneko smiled. Ijin nodded, smiling.

"Just like old times, Mom." Ijin murmured softly. Niji grinned and wrapped an arm around Ijin's shoulder.

"So, newfound twin sister of mine, I've got to teach you the ropes of dealing with my father and grandparents. So," Niji started explaining the best ways to get around everyone's bad moods while Eneko stared out the window. Soon, the two girls were sleeping with Eneko watching over them. She pet both of them softly, trying not to disturb them, before looking back out the window.

"I'm almost there, Sachi. I wonder if you've missed me…" The brown-haired woman whispered softly. Niji stirred and looked at her sleepily.

"Mom? Who's Sachi?" She asked quietly, trying not to disturb her new sister. Eneko looked back at her.

"You'll see, Niji-chan. Go back to sleep now. We'll be there soon." Niji nodded, her sleepy mind confusing her, before settling back in to sleep. Eneko looked out the window the whole rest of the trip and woke the girls as they were landing. Both of them started staring out the window, excited. Eneko grinned, realizing that neither of them had been to America and were in for a big surprise. They quickly departed the plane and picked up their luggage and Eneko hailed a cab, using different money from the first time. They started quickly moving through the city, and going walking for another part of their journey. A few miles later, Eneko was carrying Ijin, who wasn't used to this kind of walking, on her back while Niji carried both packs.

"Were are we going, Mom?" Ijin muttered into Eneko's ear. She grinned back at her and shook her head.

"Well, it's a surprise, Ijin-chan. And if I told you what the surprise was, I couldn't rightly call it a surprise anymore now could I?"

"Eneko. Sometimes I really hate your sense of logic." Ijin muttered angrily. Eneko laughed and continued on. Soon, they came to a small town and a collection of small houses. Eneko set Ijin down, grabbed her pack from Niji, and quickly started down toward the town. Ijin and Niji shared a confused look before quickly following.

"Sachi! Guess who's back?" Eneko yelled down at the town. An older woman quickly came out of a house, a shocked expression on her face.

"_Eneko! You came for him, then? Is it time for him to go home now?_" The woman asked in English to the woman. Eneko nodded, and excited expression on her face.

"_Yes, Joy, it's time for me to take him home at last._" The woman looked supremely happy and ran back into the house. Niji and Ijin shared another confused look. Eneko smiled back at them, looking happier than Niji had seen her for days.

"Do we get to go home after this, Mom?" Niji asked softly, not wanting to ruin her mother's happy mood. Eneko nodded and ruffled her hair.

"Just after this, Niji-chan. After we get Sachi, we're going home." She looked over at Ijin and hugged both of them. "All of us." Ijin smiled and nodded, as did Niji. The older woman came back out of the house, holding a small suitcase.

"_Here are his things, Eneko. Oh, I'm so happy that he's going home, but it's going to be so hard to let him go. He's grown since you last saw him. And he's very fluent in Japanese._" Eneko took the suitcase and kissed the woman's cheek, smiling.

"_Well, it is his native language, Joy. Oh, you haven't met my daughters. The green-eyed one is Niji, my biological daughter, and the dark-eyed one is Ijin, her double and my new adopted daughter. Now I have three children. It's really great_." The woman smiled and nodded, wiping a happy tear out of her eye. Suddenly, a boy came out of the house where the woman had come from. He had long jet-black hair pulled back into a ponytail with bangs that framed his face. His eyes were an eerily familiar emerald green and he looked to be about ten years old. He let out a happy cry when he saw Eneko and she dropped what she was holding and hugged him tightly.

"Mom! You're back! Can we go to Konoha now, like you promised? I want to meet my father!" Eneko laughed and nodded.

"Of course, Sachi, but first, I'd like for you to meet your sisters. The one with our eyes is your biological sister Niji, and the dark-eyed one is your adopted sister, Ijin." She looked over at the confused looks the two girls were giving her. "Niji, Ijin, this is your younger brother Sachi. He'll be coming with us to Konoha as well." Niji and Ijin both let out surprised noises and all came together for a tight hug. Eneko turned back to the older woman.

"_Joy, could you please show me to where you found me the first time? It's time for me to take them home. All of them are my children and two of them haven't even seen their home._" Joy nodded and led the talkative group of three children and their ecstatic-looking mother to a spot just outside of the town.

"_Here you are, Eneko. I wish you all luck with your new lives._" The woman said softly. Eneko nodded and hugged her. Sachi ran up and hugged the woman as well.

"_I'll miss you, Aunt Joy. Thanks for taking care of me while my Mom found her way back home._" Joy smiled and nodded, hugging him tightly. Eneko ordered the three of them to grab onto her and they did so obediently. Eneko put her hands into a hand seal and yelled out a teleportation technique. In a flash of light and color, with sounds thrown in all over the place, they landed. Niji stood and looked around.

"We're in Pein's clearing! Ijin, Sachi, we're in Konoha!" She yelled happily. Ijin and Sachi both yelled happily and jumped up, looking around, asking a whole load of questions to both their sister and their mother. Eneko laughed and got to her feet.

"There's one thing we have to do before I answer your questions. We've got a small house and we need to make it larger. So, what I'm going to have you do is clear everything out of our house now and we're going to tear down this house and build one on top of it. That way, everyone can have their own room and not have to share. Are we clear?" All three children saluted and ran to do their job, laughing. Eneko laughed and went in to help them. In no time, they were finished. Eneko stood outside of their house, hands in a concentrating position. Niji leaned over to Ijin and Sachi with a grin.

"Watch this. Mom's a pro at using wood-type jutsu." She whispered quietly. Sachi and Ijin's eyes widened and they watched Eneko carefully. The brown-haired woman whispered a technique name and the house fell to the ground. Eneko switched hand positions quickly and called out another technique name. Another house rose from the ground with the Uchiha symbol printed on it. Eneko sank to the ground and all three children rushed forward, helping her back up.

"Good job, you three. Now we've got to move everything back in the house." She murmured softly.

"Mom, you've used up too much chakra today. We'll do everything while you rest and if we're not done when you feel better, you can help us. How's that sound?" Niji asked. Eneko nodded gratefully and sat down softly. As the three of them carried things back to the house, Eneko sensed a presence behind her and her eyes widened as a hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Eneko. You're in big trouble with me." A familiar male voice whispered into her ear. She was lifted off the ground and held close in a warm embrace. "Tell me what's going on." Itachi demanded of her as he locked eyes with her.


	9. Chapter 9

Dreams Unbroken

**Dreams Unbroken****  
Chapter Nine**

"Itachi!" Eneko cried, surprised. He held onto her tightly, despite her struggles to get free. Itachi glanced at the three children before leaning down close to his wife's ear. She blushed slightly, and whimpered, trying to pull away from him.

"Eneko, when you left I was the father of one. How am I now, three days later, the father of three?" He demanded, pulling her away from the house. Eneko's eyes widened before she smiled up at him and pressed her lips against his.

"Itachi, what I'm going to tell you will be shocking for a while, but you've got to understand that I consider all three of them to be my children and that's not going to change." She warned him. He nodded and motioned for her to continue. Eneko sighed softly, rubbing her arm nervously. "Well, when I was kidnapped at the Akatsuki, I realized that I was pregnant..." Itachi's eyes immediately widened and he grabbed onto her arms in shock.

"You knew all the way back then and you didn't tell me? Didn't tell anyone?" He insisted. Eneko's eyes filled with tears and she nodded in shame.

"I know, it was a bad idea, but the whole Akatsuki battle was going on and I felt that we needed all the help that we could get, even if I couldn't do as much while pregnant." She murmured softly, tears spilling out of her eyes.

"It all makes sense now…" Itachi started, his eyes widening in realization. "The reason that you kept getting sick, the reason you got so tired so easily. I thought you said that you went to Tsunade and she told you that you weren't pregnant." Eneko smiled sheepishly. "You never went, did you?" She shook her head and he sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. "Continue please."

"Well, anyway, during the fight with Pein, all that was going through my head was 'I have to get him away, I have to get him away from my family'. I wasn't thinking about you, or about Niji, or even about my unborn son, so I used some of my life chakra to teleport myself to the otherworld. I meant to just transport him to the ocean and dump him there or something, but it turned out we were standing right on a portal to the otherworld. I got to the otherworld and passed out. When I woke up, I was being cared for in the house of an older woman whose name was Joy in America. She told me that I had to stay with her at least until I had the child, so I did, and I learned all that I could from her. A few months later, Sachi was born.

"I wanted to go back to you, so I stayed with Sachi, who looks just like you by the way, and told him stories about the times I spent here. When he was two, I started across the world, trying to find a way back to you. When I got to Japan, I met Ijin, who looked exactly how I pictured Niji would look like. When Neko came back to them and I found my way home, I always planned to go back and get Sachi, but then I had that premonition at the school about Taki and Neko…Itachi, it was like seeing our own deaths…" Eneko's voice trailed down to a whisper and she pressed herself into his embrace, a new wave of tears falling down her face. He hugged her tightly, petting her hair gently.

"So Niji and I snuck away to Suna, because that's where the portal to Japan is. We warned Taki and Neko of the danger, but…but it wasn't in enough time. As we were going to the hotel, Ijin ran up to me, covered in her parent's blood, yelling that they were dead. It was my fault, Itachi. If I never would have gone to Japan, I would have never met Taki and he and Neko would still be alive… So I took Ijin in and adopted her as mine. She can be like Niji's twin sister from the otherworld. Please, Itachi, don't be mad. I only did what I thought was best." She sobbed quietly into his chest. Itachi pet her hair gently, trying to calm her down.

"Eneko, I know that you're in pain right now, but you've got to calm down for the children's sake, okay?" Eneko nodded and wiped the tears out of her eyes quickly. Itachi leaned down and kissed her gently. "Don't worry, Eneko. You may be in trouble with both me and the hokage for leaving without permission, but I wouldn't send Ijin or Sachi away. Now, you've got some introductions to do. I have ten years to catch up with my son and a daughter to meet." He smiled. She smiled happily and hugged him.

"Thank you Itachi…" She whispered softly, close to his ear. Itachi blinked in confusion and looked at her.

"For what, Eneko-chan?" He asked her quietly. She smiled happily and kissed him again.

"For understanding me this time." He smiled at her and she smiled back. She took his hand and started pulling him toward the house. "Come on now, Itachi, you've got children to meet." He nodded and allowed her to pull him to the house. Niji looked up as they came over and smiled, rushing over and hugging Itachi.

"Dad!" She cried. Itachi laughed and hugged her tightly, kissing her forehead. Sachi and Ijin both looked up apprehensively as she said the word 'Dad'. They shared a frightened look before looking back over at their father and sister.

"Niji, you shouldn't run off with your mother like that. She's a bad influence on you." Eneko made a scoffing noise while Itachi and Niji laughed. Suddenly Itachi looked over at his other two children and smiled. "Introductions, please." He said in a slight-demanding tone. Sachi stood up straighter.

"My name is Uchiha Sachi and I'm ten years old." He replied immediately. Ijin's eyes widened and she saluted quickly, causing Eneko to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

"I-I'm…well…. m-my name is Sukimora – I mean Uchiha Ijin a-and I'm twelve. Sir!" She added quickly. Itachi smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch.

"Don't worry, Ijin. You're welcome in my family. Welcome." Ijin visibly relaxed with a happy expression on her face and then Itachi's gaze went over to Sachi, who stiffened. "Sachi, my son, we've got some catching up to do, you and I." Sachi grinned and punched the air.

"Yeah! That'll be fun!" He cried happily. Eneko, Niji, Ijin, and Itachi all laughed. Sachi joined in too after a while and then the whole family started moving everything back into the house. Eneko smiled over at Itachi, who was talking with Ijin and Sachi. Niji caught her mother's gaze and moved over closer to her as they were moving a few more things back into the house. She opened her mouth to say something that looked important from the look on her face when a voice yelled from across the house.

"Hey, Mom! Ijin's got no chakra!" Sachi yelled. Eneko sent an apologetic look over to Niji before turning toward where the voice came from.

"I already knew that, Sachi, honey. It's because she's originally from the otherworld. Don't worry about her, she'll be fine." She called back. Eneko let out a sigh and turned back to Niji. "Now, what was it you were about to say before we got interrupted?" Niji looked away for a moment, before turning back to her mother.

"Hey, Mom? Shouldn't we tell Naruto that you've got two more kids all of a sudden when you haven't been pregnant for ten years?" The green-eyed girl asked quietly. Eneko's eyes widened and she put a hand slowly to her forehead.

"Of course! Naruto! I knew I was forgetting to do something!" Eneko scolded herself under her breath before turning around and cupping her hands around her mouth. "Itachi! I've got to go get Naruto to call a meeting! We've got to introduce our newfound children! I'll be back in a few minutes! Don't teach Sachi any fire-type jutsu that could burn the house down! Love you, bye!" Eneko smiled over at Niji, ruffled her hair, and then sped out of the house.

Houses sped by quickly as Eneko smiled softly to herself. She was ecstatic that her son got to finally come home, and though she was still feeling guilty about how she came to adopt Ijin, she already loved the girl like a daughter anyway. Eneko sighed happily to herself and spun around once in the air, forming a hand seal.

"Wings of the feathered dragon." She murmured softly to herself as wings burst forth out of her back with a familiar ripping sound. Eneko stayed on the ground momentarily as the full force of the trouble she would be in hit her. She gulped nervously as she thought of what she was going to say to her hokage. People scurried back as she took flight and landed on the roof of the hokage office building. Naruto, who was already on the roof, gave a quick start backwards as the preoccupied woman deactivated her wings with a flurry of feathers.

"Eneko?" The blond man asked softly as one of his eyebrows rose. Eneko looked over at him slowly, as if she wasn't sure that she should be there. "Why did you deliberately disobey me and go back to the otherworld? I gave you a direct order and when that happens, I expect you to follow it." He scolded harshly. Eneko flinched and looked away.

"Naruto?" She asked in a quiet voice. Naruto's harsh demeanor faded immediately and he put a hand on her shoulder.

"Eneko, what's the matter?" He asked quietly. She looked back at him with tears in her eyes and her head bowed.

"Have you ever had the feeling that what you were doing surpassed your want to obey your hokage?" Naruto paused and nodded. "Well that's what happened with me, Naruto. I'm so sorry that I disobeyed you. I was already planning to go back anyway, but when I got that vision…it was just too much to handle." She smiled wickedly at her own tears. "It turns out that it was all in vain anyway. My friends Taki and Neko are dead, killed by Payne's hand." Naruto inhaled quickly, knowing how devastated she was on the inside. Suddenly, Naruto was taken aback as Eneko's gaze met his and he saw her fierce passion. "And their daughter is now my daughter. Naruto, would you call a meeting for me? I'd like everyone to re-meet my three children."

"Three?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "You only told me of two, Eneko. Where on earth did the other one come from?" The hokage demanded, confusion and curiosity overshadowing his better judgment that it may not be right to ask.

"The third child? Naruto, you're going to hate me for this, but when the Akatsuki abducted me, I found out that I was pregnant. Kisame was the only one who knew." Naruto's eyes lit up with fire as he grabbed Eneko by the arm and pulled her close. She stood about half-a-head shorter than him and was easily overpowered. Eneko glared up at him, daring him to say something, but he just glared at her for a moment longer before letting her go.

"You will be punished later for disobeying my orders, Eneko, and I don't care if it was better judgment. I will call that meeting though. We will meet at your house in five minutes." Naruto said as he disappeared. Eneko activated her kekki genkai and flew back to her home. She saw Itachi and her children waiting for her outside and dropped down, deactivating her wings and landing on the ground with feathers falling around her. Itachi saw her expression and his gaze turned from curiosity, to worry.

"What happened, Eneko?" Eneko smiled at him, grasping his hand and making him pull her close. She laid her head on his chest and sighed softly.

"I'm in trouble. BIG trouble, but Naruto's gathering everyone up and is meeting us here in a matter of minutes." She pressed her face into his chest. "Itachi, I had no idea that I could ignite Naruto's temper like that." Itachi wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"What did you say to him?" Itachi asked curiously, catching Niji's gaze and sending her a silent message to take Ijin and Sachi inside.

"I told him about me being pregnant ten years ago." Eneko murmured quietly. Itachi's eyes widened and he pushed her back to look at her.

"Eneko, that wasn't _his_ temper. It was Kyuubi's. We've found out that Kyuubi gets upset when Naruto's upset and that was Kyuubi telling you that it didn't appreciate you not telling Naruto so that everyone would be saved some heartache. You're going to be fine. Don't worry." Eneko's eyes slowly widened as the realization hit her and she nodded slowly.

"Now all we have to do is wait, right, Itachi-kun?" Itachi smiled and nodded, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Don't go looking so upset when Sasuke gets here. If Naruto hasn't told him, I want to see the look on his face." Itachi grinned mischievously. Eneko laughed and nodded, turning her gaze to look out for her family.


	10. Chapter 10

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken

**Chapter 10**

Eneko then spent the next five minutes brushing the dirt and dust off her family's outfits and adding quick touch-ups while Naruto called the meeting.

"Now, what I need the three of you to do is go right inside the house and when I call your name come outside and introduce yourselves, okay? Does that sound simple enough? Sachi, Ijin, dears, don't be overwhelmed. Our family is kind of large now and days." She grinned over at Itachi who shook his head in exasperation. Niji smiled at her brother and sister and grabbed their hands, dragging them inside the house, trying to quickly give descriptions of each person so that they knew who they were looking for. Sachi's eyes were lit up with excitement while Ijin looked a little nervous. Eneko chuckled briefly before the first smell of smoke entered her nostrils. Naruto appeared, his hands crossed over his chest.

"Hi again, Eneko. I contacted as many people as I could. And don't worry Itachi." The blonde hokage added as Itachi looked over at him questioningly. "I didn't tell Sasuke any of the details." Itachi grinned and Eneko shook her head, smiling to herself.

"Thank you, Naruto-sama. But, I'm afraid that you'll have to wait to see my kids. They'll all be introduced once everyone gets here." Naruto grinned and nodded as everyone else started to arrive. First it was Hinata with Koro and Tami, both looking excited at the opportunity to have been invited to a meeting of any kind. Tami's eyes lit up as she saw Eneko.

"Eneko-sensei! You're back from your mission! We missed you in class! The substitute is _so_ boring!" She exclaimed, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Eneko laughed and smiled at her.

"Well, if luck is on our side, Tami-chan, I'll be back in class on Monday. Are you ready to learn some more about strategy?" She asked. Tami nodded, her navy-colored hair bouncing around her face. Sakura and her four children were the next to arrive. Tai ran up and hugged Eneko as soon as he saw her.

"Eneko-oba-sensei!" He exclaimed happily. Eneko smiled and hugged him as well, shooing him back to his mother. Eneko waved over at Sakura, who waved back before breaking up a fight that had started up between the twins and Shura, yet again. Akari and Fugaku arrived next, followed by Deidara and finally Sasuke, looking exasperated.

"Man, Eneko. Ever since you got back, my life has gotten so much more _busy_." He muttered, rubbing his temples while standing by his wife. Eneko smirked over at him.

"You say that like it's a bad thing, Sasuke. Be happy that I _did_ come back, or you'd still be having to deal with Grumpy Uchiha over here." She smirked, pointing at Itachi, who frowned.

"Eneko, can we please get on with it? I want to see the expression on Sasuke's face when he finds out." Sasuke sent him a strange look while Eneko just grinned and turned to address everyone.

"Hi everyone! Sorry about messing up your schedules and everything, but I think that you all should hear this. You all know I have a daughter, correct? Niji? Well, if you were alive then," she paused looking at the children, "you'll remember that the both of us where kidnapped by Akatsuki. Thankfully, I could get Niji away with one of my fans before any damage was done to her, but I was taken to the base. I won't go into details about what happened, but while I was there I befriended Kisame." She paused sighing. "He was the only one who knew that…I was pregnant. I found out while being held in the Akatsuki base." The air decreased as everyone took a gasp.

"While I was fighting Pein, I tried to teleport his corpse out of the continent. Instead, I found that I was standing on a portal into the otherworld. Sachi was born there, my son. He's ten years old now. And while I was finding our way home, I met Itachi and my doubles, Taki and Neko, and their daughter Ijin, Niji's double. Recently I had a premonition that Taki and Neko would be killed, and it was true. I couldn't warn them in enough time and now, they've gone on to the next realm. But their daughter is alive. Ijin is now my daughter and Niji's twin and if anyone says otherwise…" Eneko shot a threatening look around the group of gathered people "they'll have to answer to _me_." She smiled then.

"Niji, hon, could you come out now?" Eneko called toward the house. Niji walked out and stood by her father, smiling at the group and waving. "Ijin, sweetie, you next." She called. "And don't forget your introduction." She quickly added. Ijin walked out into the clearing to stand by Eneko.

"I'm Uchiha Ijin. Nice to meet you everyone!" She waved, winking. Eneko smiled at her and put a hand on her head, ruffling her hair.

"Sachi! Your turn." Eneko called back again. Nothing happened, no sound, no footsteps. "Sachi?" She called again.

"Sorry, Mom. We tried to convince him that what he was thinking was utterly unnecessary, but he wouldn't listen." Niji apologized from her spot behind Itachi. Eneko blinked before looking up. A blur spun towards the Earth, dark wings sprouting from his back. He spiraled down to land gracefully in front of Eneko and Itachi, grinning at his audience.

"What's up everyone? My name is Uchiha Sachi!" Everyone stood, stunned for a moment before the kids started clapping. The adults looked at each other, their looks saying 'yeah, that's defiantly Eneko's kid'. Eneko smiled and hugged Sachi from behind.

"Nice entrance, Sachi-kun, but don't scare me like that again next time, okay?" Sachi grinned and nodded at his mother. Naruto came forward and held his hand out.

"Hello you two. I'm your hokage, Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to finally get to meet you both. Welcome to the village." Ijin and Sachi's eyes both lit up as the rest of the group came to meet the newcomers. Eneko smiled at the happy scene before a blinding pain centered around her neck shot through her body. She gasped in pain and grasped Itachi's arm, shaking as her eyes began to dull.

"Itachi! Get everyone away! The curse is flaring up again!" She managed to gasp out. Itachi's eyes widened as he moved everyone out of the way. Eneko fully lost control as she slipped into a different world. In her mind's eye, she saw Konoha being attacked by two figures. Both had on black cloaks with red clouds imprinted on them. She gasped as she fought against the control while watching the two Akatsuki members attacking Konoha with ruthless intensity. Her eyes widened as she recognized the orange-haired figure, who smirked cruelly at her through the vision.

"Eneko! You have to snap out of it right now!" She heard Itachi's voice through the madness.

"Mom! Stop it! It's okay!" Niji's voice broke through as well. She seemed to open her eyes as the veil lifted and she found herself pinned down by all three of her family members. Itachi's anxious face searched hers.

"Did I hurt anyone this time?" She gasped. Itachi shook his head and let her up. Sachi, Ijin, and Niji released their holds more slowly, making sure she wasn't going to lash out at them again. Eneko grasped Itachi's waiting hand and stood up, marching over to Naruto on unsteady legs.

"Naruto. You have to put the city on full lock-down. It's not safe." She ordered him, her voice getting stronger the longer she talked. Naruto was immediately all business.

"Why is that, Eneko? I can't just go around ordering people to do whatever I like. They'll want to know a reason why." Eneko turned away, using a jutsu to put her into battle clothes, fully stocked and ready with weapons. She half-turned her face toward him, speaking over her shoulder.

"Because Payne has found a way to get to me." She explained. "And he'll kill anyone I'm close to." Naruto's eyes widened and he nodded, running off to tell the guards the situation. Sakura and Hinata gathered their kids and took them to their homes to explain everything. Eneko walked over to Itachi, sighing softly and putting her head on his chest.

"Itachi. I fear that this might be a repeat of what happened ten years ago. If my fears are realized, I want you to promise me that you'll protect our family at all costs." She whispered. Itachi wrapped his arm around her in a comforting embrace.

"I will not allow you to leave me again, Eneko. I will promise that I'll protect our family, but in return, you'll have to promise that we'll do it together. And don't get into any one-sided fights this time. I don't want to loose you." Eneko nodded, smiling, her fears pushed aside fore the moment. She patted his chest lovingly.

"I'm going to go take first guard since I know what kind of thing that I'm looking for. You help the kids okay? Explain what's going on?" She asked him, backing away and heading for the closest guard tower. Itachi turned back to the children, all standing in a line, seemingly awaiting orders.

"All right, kids. It's time to train for a battle. Ijin, your job will be to help patients in the hospital, all right? We're hoping for no casualties, but just in case, Sakura will need help at the hospital." Ijin nodded, thinking over what that would mean. Itachi turned to his other two children.

"Niji, you may need to help Ijin learn at least a little basic taijutsu, just in case she needs to defend herself. During the battle, you'll be one of the strongest ones out there, so try not and get too cocky. I don't want to loose you because you made some rookie mistake." He told her teasingly. She swatted at him playfully, smiling. Finally, he turned to Sachi, who was awaiting his orders with hardly concealed anticipation.

"Sachi, we're not sure what your specialty is, so this might be a little more difficult. If we had more time, I would train you myself to get a new specialty, but by the way Eneko is talking, we don't have long until the battle starts. So, we're going to train at a rapid pace. Does that sound all right with you?" Sachi nodded, saluting.

"Whatever you need me to do, Dad! Just ask, and I shall obey. But don't think that _that_'ll stay long. Only for battles." He grinned. Itachi grinned at him.

"You are _without doubt_ your mother's son. Now, during the battle, I want you to stay close to me. Not because I don't think you can do it, but just because I want to see how you do in your first battle." The two men grinned at each other before Itachi looked where Eneko had run off.

_Don't worry, Eneko. Your children will be safe with me. I promise you that. _


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken Chapter Eleven

Eneko's eyes scanned the horizons from the guard tower. She was alone up here and it was peaceful, except for the fact that everyone was expecting a full-out attack from two Akatsuki members. It was even more interesting when you considered the fact that the Akatsuki had been disbanded for ten years ever since she had killed Pein. She rubbed her temples.

"You know what, sky?" She tilted her head up towards the clouds. "I think that it would be a whole lot better for everyone if I had just stayed dead." The clouds just passed above silently, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her. She sighed again, groaning.

"Wonderful, I'm talking to clouds now. I'm now officially insane." A crow flew overhead, it's cries sounding like it was laughing at her. She glared at it and continued keeping guard.

It wasn't long before two figures began forming in the distance. Two eerily familiar figures, but from this distance, it was impossible to tell who. She stared at them for a while longer, her heart clenching in fear that it was Payne and his counterpart. But as the two figures got closer and closer, Eneko recognized the blonde and white-headed figures. Her eyes lit up with excitement and she activated her kekki genkai.

"Tsunade-sama! Jiraiya-sama! Guess who?!" She cried, flying over to them and tackle-hugging both of them when she landed. The two sannin smiled and laughed, hugging her back.

"Eneko! It's so good to see you! I thought that you had died!" Tsunade cried, hugging her tightly. Jiraiya seconded it, his hand on Tsunade's shoulder.

"Well, there's a story to that, but I'll tell _that_ to you later. The village is on lock-down right about now. I'll probably have to fly you up to my guard tower. C'mon." She flew up in the air and grabbed their hands pulling them up so that they could sit with her. They sat down, Eneko keeping one eye on the horizons the entire time. Just because she was catching up with old friends didn't mean that she would skimp on her guard duties.

"And then I had a premonition that Payne and another Akatsuki member, who I couldn't see in the darkness of the vision, attacked Konoha, searching for me and anyone else that I was close to so that they could kill us. So, I got Naruto-sama to put the village on lock-down and here we are. I'm keeping watch for Payne and the other Akatsuki member up here." Tsunade and Jiraiya shared a smug look and Eneko grinned at them, knowing that they were probably thinking that she was trying to take on too much at once.

"We'll help in whatever way we can, Eneko. Don't you worry about a thing." Jiraiya said in an uncharacteristic sincere voice. Eneko blinked but thought nothing of it. It might be uncharacteristic to her, but she _had_ been gone for ten years. Maybe Jiraiya had changed in the time she'd been gone.

Something out of the corner of her eye stopped her in mid thought. Two figures were approaching in the distance. She groaned in frustration when she realized that she wouldn't be able to tell who it was for a while yet. She narrowed her eyes and grinned back at Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"Man, what I wouldn't give to have the Hyuuga's eyes right now. The byakugan probably comes in really handy when looking at things from a distance." She chuckled and then turned back to the distance where the two figures were approaching with rapid speed. Eneko gasped in surprise and horror as she realized that she was looking at an approaching Jiraiya and Tsunade. She started to spin around to confront the ones behind her, but a piercing, burning pain penetrated her back and she froze.

Hot, musky breath moved in close to her ear, but she couldn't move to fight off her attackers. She clenched her eyes shut and mentally cursed herself for being so careless. She should have tested chakra signatures before letting them get to her. Now she realized what that smug look was about. They had gotten past her with only a simple transformation jutsu.

"Did you miss me…Eneko-chan?" A sinisterly familiar voice whispered in her ear. The thing in her back twisted and her veins felt as if they were on fire before a black curtain blocked her vision and she found herself falling toward the ground. She lost consciousness before even hitting the floor.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another guard tower, Sasuke sat with an old friend, Kiba Inuzuka and his dog Akamaru. They were talking about making sure that their children were safe and sound and different battle techniques that they could use to get this over with quickly and without any fatalities other than the two Akatsuki members. Suddenly, Akamaru stood up, whimpering and growling all in the same breath. Kiba sat up straight and tall, his eyes widening with unhidden horror.

"What's the matter, Kiba?" Sasuke asked, bile rising in his throat. Kiba looked over at Akamaru, who gave a few more whimper-growls before snarling. Kiba turned back to Sasuke.

"Akamaru says that he smells fresh blood and one unknown chakra signature. The one he does recognize is that bastard Pein. The thing is, the blood is coming from one of the guard towers. They got past us those bastards! When I find out who failed to stop them, they're going down." Kiba threatened, baring his fangs. Sasuke froze in terror before his eyes hardened and he became all business.

"You go tell Naruto what's happened after telling me what guard tower they attacked. We might be able to still save the person they attacked." Kiba rolled his eyes. Sasuke was spending too much time with his med-nin wife.

"That one." He replied, pointing at a guard tower three towers away from them on their right. Sasuke nodded.

"Good. Now go tell Naruto what's happened. People need to get to safety if those Akatsuki members are loose in the village. I'll meet you in battle later, Kiba." Kiba nodded and he and Akamaru took off to tell their hokage what they had found. Sasuke ran along the edge of the wall, moving quickly to the guard tower that Kiba had pointed out. As soon as his feet stepped onto the guard tower and he began walking around to find the poor soul, he felt that something was not right.

"Hello? Are you conscious? Hello?" He called, walking around the guard tower. When he got to the front of the tower, over-looking the forest outside of Konoha, he saw the form, crumpled over and bleeding.

"_Eneko_!" He yelled in alarm, bending down next to his fallen sister-in-law. She was at least four shades paler than normal with sweat beads breaking out on her forehead. Sasuke saw the wound in her back and visibly winced as he saw the blood turn an eerie shade of violet when it touched the edges of the wound. He picked Eneko up quickly and gently before rushing her off to the hospital. Eneko lay limply in his arms, never making any movement other than the faint rise and fall of her chest as she fought for breath. Sasuke's mind was filled with anger that his sister was struck down like this while in Eneko's mind, she was seeing someone she thought she'd never see again.

* * *

Eneko opened her eyes slowly, halfway, before taking note of her surroundings and finding that she was underwater. Her eyes opened in panic and she tried to hold onto what breath she had in her system while looking for a way to get up to the surface. A chuckle reached her ears and she turned around, her eyes widening.

"Eneko-chan. You can breathe here you know. This isn't your world with all of your silly laws and things." The blue-skinned shark-like man smiled. Eneko's eyes widened before filling with tears, all thoughts about breathing underwater gone.

"Kisame-kun…" She murmured happily. Kisame grinned and opened his arms. She ran and hugged him, the back of her mind in complete puzzlement about having to resistance underwater.

"Don't cry, Eneko. I'm happy here. There's no pain, hunger, war, Akatsuki, nothing. Well, nothing but peace and a whole lot of water. Which is just perfect for me, you know." He murmured quietly to her, a slight tease in his deep voice. She sobbed softly and hugged him even tighter.

"I'm sorry, Kisame, I never meant for you to get hurt. I should have gotten there sooner, I'm so sorry. I could have helped you, saved you, something other than just sitting there in Konoha." She cried. Kisame rubbed her back gently, pulling her face up and kissing her forehead.

"Aw, come on, Eneko. You know that's not true as much as I do. You had a daughter and a husband that you needed to take care of and you were recovering after what Pein did to you. There's nothing to apologize for. I've never blamed you and I never will. I do wish that I could have gotten to know your children though. They're very lovely, Eneko-chan." She smiled slightly, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"Thank you, Kisame-kun. But what happened? Why am I here? The last thing I remember was hearing Payne's voice and then I blacked out. A-am I…am I…?" She trailed off, her tongue not able to form the words she needed. Kisame's smile disappeared and he shook his head.

"No, Eneko-chan, you're not dead. I called you here from you unconsciousness. That dog-boy smelled blood and Sasuke found you. He's taking you to the hospital right now. You'll live, Eneko, no worries about that. Sasori, the other Akatsuki member you've been wondering about, has poisoned you. He was the most loyal to Pein when we were all in the Akatsuki, so it makes sense that he would side with him now, doesn't it?" Eneko nodded, preoccupied with her own thoughts.

"How can I defeat the both of them, Kisame? Is it even possible for me to defeat Pein's spirit a second time? It was hard enough the first and I'd like to stay with my family this time if at all possible." Kisame frowned and shook his head.

"Eneko-chan. This is not a battle you can fight on your own. You're going to need help. You can't shield everyone forever, Eneko. Especially that feisty daughter of yours. She'll jump into anything headfirst without thinking." Eneko laughed, hugging Kisame again and kissing him on the cheek. He blushed and she grinned slyly at him, before the smile turned a little more serene and sincere with a trace of sadness behind it.

"I miss you, Kisame. I miss you a lot. I wish that you could be with us now, see everyone as they grow up." She said sadly, looking down. Kisame, to her surprise, let out a deep laugh.

"Your son has a water specialty, Eneko-chan. I'm going to give you some of my water techniques to train him with. Oh, and give Sachi samehada as a present from me. It'll come in handy for him one of these days." Eneko smiled, looking up at Kisame's grinning face.

"I promise I will, Kisame. I promise." Kisame kissed her forehead once more as he transferred techniques to her. Everything began fading to black.

"I miss you too, Eneko-chan, but don't worry at all about me. I'm always watching over you." The soft voice whispered as everything grew dark and still.


	12. Chapter 12

Dreams Unbroken Dreams Unbroken Chapter Twelve

Eneko's eyelids fluttered open and she froze nervously as everything around her was blurry but relaxed a little when everything cleared up. Remembering what had happened, she quickly looked around, finding herself to be in a hospital room, just as Kisame had said. She smiled at the memory, her eyes tearing up slightly at the memory of her old friend.

Itachi was watching her worriedly, checking her expression to make sure that she was actually with them. She felt around her and found that she had an IV drip in her arm and oxygen cords in her nose. She quickly pulled the oxygen cord out and sat up, trying to move the covers off of herself. Sakura came up from her other side and, with Itachi's help, tried to push her back down onto the covers.

"No, stop it, I need to get back out there. Sasori and Payne are in Konoha because of my miscalculation!" She growled softly.

"Eneko, you've been severely poisoned! You're not allowed to move!" Sakura scolded her, continuing to try and push her back down. Eneko calculated her chances. It wasn't long before Sakura started using her strength to get Eneko back down so she didn't have much time. Her eyes widened as the searing pain hit her back again and she slumped forward, clutching the bandages on her chest. She coughed violently into her other hand and didn't even seem surprised when she saw the blood speckles. Sakura and Itachi pushed her back down and Sakura injected more of the anti-venom into her bloodstream. Eneko grabbed Itachi's hand, her eyes wide.

"Itachi, oh, Itachi, I saw him! I saw Kisame. He's happy, Itachi, and he doesn't blame me, just like you and Deidara said. But he also told me that it will be possible for us to defeat Sasori and Payne. We just need the right plan is all." She winced again as she felt the poison move through her system. Itachi pet her hair gently, trying to calm her down.

"Ene-koi, you were poisoned, you probably didn't really see Kisame. It was probably a hallucination. And do you still blame yourself for what happened all those years ago?" Itachi asked, concerned. She slapped his hand away, glaring at him.

"Itachi…" She murmured softly. "Sasuke brought me here because Kiba and Akamaru smelled blood. Oh, and Sachi's got a water element specialty and Kisame transferred the techniques he knew to me so that I could teach them to Sachi and Kisame's passed down samehada to our son as a gift to him." She gave him a look. "Still don't believe that Kisame came to me?" Itachi said nothing, his eyes wide in shock. Sakura passed her a shocked look from checking her medication.

"W-well, Eneko-chan, what's your plan then, if your old friend helped you?" Eneko smiled at her rose-headed sister-in-law before closing her eyes in concentration, pulling the IV swiftly out of her arm, ducking under both Sakura and Itachi's grasps and running out the door, clutching her bandaged chest tightly. The guards posted at the front of the hospital reached out to stop her, but she lashed out with two fingers and hit the pressure points in their arms, causing them to go limp.

She continued running toward her destination; the hokage building. She hoped that Naruto was actually in his office and she made a mental note to check his house if he wasn't in his office. She grimaced as she thought of Sakura and Itachi back at the hospital. She'd be lucky if Itachi only sent out two ANBU guards after her. She sped into Naruto's office, bursting into the door and doubling over, covering her mouth as she felt the blood coming back up.

"Defiantly worse that the taste you get after brushing your teeth and drinking orange juice. I don't care what Itachi says." She muttered sorely as she looked up. Naruto was sitting at his desk, a pen grasped in between two fingers, staring at her in complete shock, stopping in mid-word on whatever he was writing on. Eneko blinked and then crossed her arms over her chest.

"What? Is there something on my face or something? All I did was cough up blood. What's the big deal with you people? Man…" Naruto cleared his throat, stopping her in mid-rant.

"All right, Eneko, tell me why you're here instead of in the hospital. AND why you're coughing up blood. I'd like to know that too." Eneko held one finger up.

"Alright, the first reason that I'm not in the hospital is because I've seen _way_ too much of that place." She held up another finger. "The second reason is that I need to talk to you about a plan to defeat the two Akatsuki members currently in this village." She crossed her arms back over her chest.

"And the reason that I'm coughing up blood is because Sasori poisoned me. Any questions or can I get on with telling you the plan?" She smiled slightly, a threatening feature in her eyes. Naruto gulped nervously and nodded, putting his papers away and threading his fingers together and setting his chin on them.

"Continue, Eneko." He nodded to her. She smiled; her little Naruto had grown up. She took at deep breath before going on to explain her plan in intricate detail, making a list of people and telling Naruto what to tell them to do when the fighting really got started.

"I warn you, Naruto. This may not end well. If this is like what happened ten years ago, let me be the one that has to transport Payne, Sasori, or both to the otherworld. Now that I know how to get back, it won't take me as long. And I _promise_ that I'm not pregnant this time, so you don't have to worry about me bringing home another child. Even though I love Sachi, Ijin, and Niji to pieces, I just don't think that I'm ready for another child." She grinned sarcastically, but Naruto just frowned.

"Eneko, I will not allow you to be taken away from those you love and who love you again. Do you really think that I want to see Itachi's face when you leave again? I won't allow it, Eneko. And I won't allow _you_ to disobey my orders like you did with Taki and Neko." Eneko flinched visibly, tears entering her emerald eyes.

"Sorry, Eneko, I know that you hate for them to be brought up, but there was nothing that you could do to help them after Payne had already decided to kill them. You're lucky that you've got Ijin now and you should be happy that you saved her from the same fate. Now, I'll go through with this plan of yours, but I won't let you leave us again." Naruto finished his small lecture in a no-nonsense tone that was unlike the Naruto that Eneko had known ten years ago. She sighed, thinking of the carefree Naruto of those days and turned away from him, facing the door.

"I'm going to check on my children, hokage-sama. I'll give you the signal when it is time for the plan to start." She stepped towards the door, pausing when she got in the doorway and turning her head so that she was speaking slightly over her own shoulder. "You won't be able to stop me, Uzumaki. No matter how strong you've gotten, I'll always be stronger. I'll always be your big sister." She murmured softly before turning and leaving.

Using her chakra, she propelled herself over the roofs of the buildings leading to the outskirts of town. She made a mental note that an angry Itachi was probably waiting for her at home, considering that he didn't send any ANBU after her. And with their family connections, that fact would probably be easy. Either that or members of the police force since Sakura was probably mad at her too for leaving when she was a patient and under physical stress from the poison. Eneko sighed. Things were so complicated around here now.

She came to a stop, still not at the outskirts of town. She wrinkled her nose in distaste and made a hand seal, closing her eyes and concentrating her chakra. She opened her mouth to call out the familiar kekki genkai jutsu when strong arms wrapped around her, breaking her seal and her concentration. Her eyes snapped open and she was about to turn and attack when she felt the familiar chakra signature.

"I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have run off like that, but I knew that once you had heard my plans that you would insist that I stay in bed and you wouldn't let me help and I'd regret not helping the rest of my life, so I ran and I'm surprised that you didn't send any of your ANBU buddies after me and another thing – " She was cut off by a gentle finger pressing her lips together.

"Do you think that after twelve years of marriage that I don't know you better than that, Eneko? I knew what you were planning before you even did. I'm not mad, and I'm not insisting that you stay in bed. But I _am_, however, insisting that you go and talk to the children. Sakura told them that you had run off again, after being poisoned I might add, thinking that they might know something and it caused Niji to nearly break my arm to come and search for you. Sachi nearly used his kekki genkai and flew through the roof and I caught Ijin trying to sneak out the window to go and find you herself. You've caused some problems with our children, Eneko." She cringed and shrugged out of Itachi's embrace, smiling.

"Then let's get going, Itachi! Why didn't you tell me any of this sooner? I would have gone straight home if you had told me that the children were worried. By the gods, you're such a _man_!" She took off running, faster than before. Itachi let out a short laugh before chasing after her at top speed.

Eneko stopped running and started walking about ten feet away from the door. But as soon as her chakra signature passed the fifty-foot radius of a barrier around the house, the three children all burst out, tackle-hugging their mother so hard that all four of them fell to the ground. Eneko winced as the ground scraped against the stab wound in her back, but laughed all the same.

"Oh, you three, you should all know by now that whatever happens to me, I'm never in any _real_ danger! I always bounce back at one point or another!" She laughed. The three kids laughed too.

"Yeah, we know," Niji explained, grinning crookedly. "But that doesn't stop us from worrying about you. It comes from Dad's side of the gene pool." Eneko laughed as Itachi, who had come upon the scene just as Niji was saying this, made a face. Eneko suddenly broke off, moving her children gently off of her before running in the house. She went into a special room that she had created just for the purposes of having somewhere to remember the fallen. From the wall, she took down a large wrapped sword and ran her fingers over the wraps lovingly.

_Thank you, Kisame. Thank you for giving this to my son. I'll never forget you._ She smiled and went back outside where the children sat, confused. When Eneko came out holding a huge sword, all three got into battle-tensed positions, expecting a full-out war to start then and there.

"Sachi. This is…a present. I was told to give it to you by the person that once wielded this. His name was…Kisame. This is Samehada. It won't be wielded by anyone it doesn't trust and Kisame told me that he passed it on to you. It's your birthright. He promised it to you while you were still in the womb. While I was in Akatsuki." Sachi's eyes were wide as he took the sword from his mother. Eneko tensed, half expecting the sword to stab into her young son's hand, but it was quiet and Sachi gave it a few test-swings.

"I'll have to teach you how to use it exactly a little bit later, when we have the time. And I'll have to teach you all of Kisame's techniques. He gave them to me so that you could have them." Tears entered her green eyes and she wiped them away quickly. Sachi hugged her mother tightly.

"I wish I could meet him, Momma. I think I would have liked Kisame." He gave her a sideways grin. "He seems to have gotten into a lot of mischief with this Samehada. This'll be _fun._" Eneko let out a short laugh, hugging him tightly. Itachi smiled and wrapped his arms around Eneko as well; Niji and Ijin soon following suit. Eneko pushed them all off with a laugh before getting serious.

"All right. It's time that I tell you four the plan and your roles in it. The battle starts soon."


	13. Chapter 13

**Dreams Unbroken **

**Chapter Thirteen**

After making sure that her children and her husband knew their parts in her 'master plan', she focused on inwardly healing herself. It was a technique that she had learned from her old master in China and, thankfully, it came in handy in times like this. She wouldn't be able to completely heal herself, but she would be able to fight without the poison hindering her abilities. Though she was almost positive that Itachi would be watching her the entire time.

"Hey, Mom, why can't anyone else hold this sword again? I forgot." Eneko smiled and opened one eye. Sachi was standing up, holding the bandaged sword. Eneko had warned him to keep it bandaged unless he really needed its help because it would suck up the chakra of anyone near him.

"Because it will stab into the hand of anyone else that tries to hold it. And if you really want to know what that feels like, you should ask Gai-sensei. He tried to hold it once when Kisame was still alive and samehada would have none of it. And don't give it to someone for a prank, young man, or you'll have to deal with me. Or your father, depending on how this battle turns out." Sachi grinned.

"Don't worry, Mom! Those bully Akatsuki members won't be able to get past us! We'll kick their tails into the otherworld!" He called, punching the air with the hand not holding samehada. Eneko grinned but stifled her laughter. She then closed her eyes to resume what she was doing and sighed softly. Sachi left without another word, going almost as silently as he had come.

After another hour of self-treatment, she could stand and fight while the adverse effects of the poison were subdued. Itachi walked over to her as she came outside to see how her family was doing. Sachi and Niji, who were obviously fighting with Itachi, now turned to practice on each other. Sachi seemed skilled already with samehada and Eneko wondered if Kisame was guiding her son even now.

"How are you feeling, Eneko?" He asked softly. She smiled and nodded at him, doing an intricate kick in the air and landing beside him.

"I'm feeling well enough to put my plan into action, Itachi. Oh, and don't worry because Sachi says that he'll handle everything." She laughed. Itachi rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"I swear, Eneko, I thought that Niji was so much like you, but now that I've met Sachi I think that he's the most like you, hands down." Eneko let out a small laugh and nodded. "And Naruto came to tell you that he'll sound the alarm soon. But that was nearly an hour ago, so I'm not sure if 'soon' includes the time from now to next week." Eneko looked up to the sky and grinned back at her husband, a nervous feeling making her stomach tighten.

"The alarm will sound within the next hour, Itachi. Would you stay with me for a moment? I want to test something out that I was working on throughout my stays with Taki and Neko." Itachi nodded, his eyebrows raised in confusion, though he knew better than to question her. Eneko stepped back and closed her eyes. When she opened them, her curse mark moved out in a quick spiral pattern and overtook half of her body in feather-like markings. Itachi's eyes widened.

"You can go to curse mark stage one?" He asked. "Isn't that dangerous? Shouldn't you be careful?" Eneko nodded and smiled.

"Yes, yes, I guess that I should, but we need all the help we can get on this mission to rid our village of evil and I thought that this might help with that god-awful poison running through my veins." Itachi still looked reluctant, but he wouldn't argue with her when her life was on the line. Her plan put her in extreme danger, but he knew that it would work.

"All right, Eneko, I trust you, though I don't like your judgment on issues relating to your life." Eneko let out a light chuckle and closed her eyes again. As soon as she opened them, her skin was moonlight-white and her hair was a very light blue. Her green eyes were intensified in color and her lips were the same color as her hair. White angel-like wings extended out of her back and she sighed lightly.

"I did it!" She grinned and her voice was a slightly-higher pitch, though it was still definitely Eneko's. "I got to stage two and I didn't try to kill everyone." She looked down at her hand and her eyebrows shot up. "That's funny, usually when I try and go to this stage, my skin turns jet black. Oh well, I guess this would be much prettier. Right, Itachi?" Itachi's mouth was gaping and his eyes were huge.

"Eneko, you look like an angel." He finally managed to get out, though it was little more than a coherent breath. Eneko scoffed and her intense green eyes gave him a scathing look.

"Itachi, your imagination has obviously gotten the better of you. I'm no angel. I'm planning to kill two men and I don't feel guilty at all." Itachi rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. The moonlight skin around her face turned pink with a blush and he grinned at her.

"I said that you _looked_ like an angel. I never said that you _were_ an angel." Eneko's mouth opened in mock-anger and she let out a playful huff and turned her eyes away.

"Mommy, is that _you_?" Sachi's face looked like an exact copy of Itachi's; complete shock. Niji and Ijin weren't far off, though Ijin's mouth hung open. Niji's eyes were just wide, though she was more used to her mother's antics than most of the others. And she was the most familiar with curse mark stages and jutsu.

"Is that your stage two curse mark, Mother?" Niji asked curiously, her head tilted slightly to the left as she sought an answer. Eneko nodded and pushed herself out of Itachi's arms.

"Yes, and I think that this will subdue the poison far better than what I've been doing. Now all we have to do is wait for Naruto's signal." As if on cue, a bird that was not native to the lands of, or around, Konoha flew overhead, calling it's strange, screech-like cry. Eneko grinned.

"And there's the signal!" She grinned. "Don't forget your parts in your plans and don't forget that you're not supposed to do anything that can or might help me because we're sticking to the plan no matter what!" Itachi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at his angel-like wife with raised eyebrows.

"And what if, like always, the plan completely and totally falls apart?" He asked, preparing for the worst as always. Eneko grinned and walked over to her ornery husband, kissing him soundly on the lips. Groans and disgusted moans came from the gathered children and the grin on Eneko's face widened.

"Then we'll wing it, Tachi-kun! But we'll cross that rickety bridge when we come to it. I'll light my flare when I find them. Shield your eyes when you figure out that it's mine. I love you all!" She called to her children, and then, there was a rush of wind and she was gone.

"Mom's amazing, isn't she?" Ijin asked softly, her eyes where Eneko had been standing. Sachi and Niji murmured their own stunned agreements and Itachi chuckled, gently herding them away.

"Come on, you three, we need to get into position or your mother will have our heads." The eyes of the three children widened at his words and all started running off, fearing the outcome of their mother's anger if they failed to follow through with the fool-proof plan.

"How long do you think that it'll take Mom to find them, Dad?" Sachi asked, running beside his father. Itachi shrugged his shoulders, trying not to dislodge Ijin who was riding on his back because she couldn't keep up with the quick shinobi.

"Not particularly sure about time frames anymore, son. With her in stage two, it could probably take anywhere from five to ten minutes. But possibly less, I guess. It could probably depend on what disguises they use. Let's just keep going and wait for her flare." Exactly 37.01 seconds later, a bright white orb of light flew into the sky and burst like a firework. The streams of white light were blinding and, just in time, Itachi remembered to push the children into the shadows to shield them from the glare. He turned back and gave a low, impressed whistle. The children stared open mouthed at where the last remnants of the bright flare were fading into the sky.

"Well, I guess that we'd really better hurry now. C'mon, you three, we've got to get Ijin into position before we get there ourselves and Eneko's already initiated her plan." The three began running with renewed vigor.



Eneko stood on one side of the same forest clearing on the outskirts of the village that she had been at exactly ten years ago. She found it appropriate that she had found them here. The only difference this time was that there was no two-year-old child in need of protecting or husband in need of a good smack on the head. And that she was facing _two_ sadistic Akatsuki members instead of just one. But they were in for a surprise because, this time, she was prepared.

"I see that you have a few more tricks up your sleeve, Uchiha Eneko. But do you _really_ think that you will be able to defeat me this time? Even with the help of the curse mark that END gave you?" Payne asked her, a smug look on his face. "You couldn't even tell Sasori and I apart from the two sanin. And I thought that they were your friends."

"You took advantage of the unknown factors of my time losses here, Payne." She glared. "But I do thank you for administering that poison into my system. I got to speak with a friend that was murdered by your predecessor. Sasori, you remember Kisame, do you not?" Sasori stiffened but continued to glare. Payne now had an amused, sadistic smile on his face.

"Taking pride in a hallucination, are we, Eneko? I guess that's all right, considering that you have nothing else to take pride in. That family of yours is weak. Your daughter does not listen to reason, your son was born away from Konoha and knows nothing about the traditions of the shinobi, and that little daughter of those Japanese that I've slain," he chuckled. "Well, I really don't have to say anything about her competence now do I?" He stopped suddenly, _seeing_ the evil, dangerous aura rising around Eneko's angel-like form.

"_You_ are not allowed to say anything about my children." She said in a voice that would make even the Kyuubi flinch. Both Akatsuki members took a few nervous, quick steps back. Eneko smiled dangerously, rising a few feet off the ground. The gentle beat of the pure white wings was somehow eerie and ominous.

"What's the matter, Akatsuki? Has the cloud lost its bite? Or is Payne too scared to send his little attack dog in to fight the woman that took out your stupid little END gang?" She giggled and the sound of it sent nervous shivers down the spines of the Akatsuki members standing across the clearing from her. Payne jerked his head at Sasori, who came forward. Eneko landed on the ground again, her wings folding around her, casting her into shadow. Her green eyes glinted maliciously.

"I think that it was a bad idea to insult her children, leader-sama." Sasori told Payne in a monotone voice with hints of fears on the edges. Payne scoffed and waved him forward, standing back with a kunai knife in his hand. He sat on the ground, laid the kunai knife beside him and used a hand seal that was eerily familiar to Eneko. She took a hesitant step back before leaping at Sasori.

He used almost-invisible, chakra puppet strings to wield his puppets. Eneko was dodging attacks left and right, trying her hardest not to make the poison reduction any harder for her body. And she was trying not to end up in the hospital after this fight; she had seen far too much of that white-walled place. And she figured that her rose-headed sister-in-law had seen far too much of her for her own good.

Suddenly, her head throbbed in pain and she faltered. Sasori got a good stab in, but she spun away so that it only left a graze. A sharp pain came from the wound and she looked down to see the spots of blood turning purple. She grimaced and continued fighting with renewed vigor, knowing that if she got very many more of those kinds of wounds, she would be on the floor before you could say 'Akatsuki'.

**Eneko, you never answered my question.** A voice echoed in her head. She froze in place, her eyes wide. **Did you miss me?** A cry of 'no' came to her lips and she put up a barrier just in time to see Sasori's puppet coming in for an attack. Any other natural noise was blocked out by the sadistic laugh echoing through her head.

"Leave me alone! Get out of my head! I don't belong to you!" She yelled, fighting against the possession that threatened to overtake her. The veil seemed to cover her eyes and she fought harder against it. She kept her family's faces in her mind's eye and it became easier.

_Fight for them, Eneko. Fight for them. You can't turn to the side of Akatsuki, you have to follow through with the plan. They're depending on you. Come on, you can do it. You can fight. You can win._ Eneko murmured to herself in her head, fighting against the voice that sent her head throbbing in pain.

**You can't win against us, Eneko, give up. Akatsuki shall take over the village of Konoha and then, with this village at our disposal, the others shall fall. Akatsuki shall win this battle, Eneko. You should just give up now.** Eneko shook her head tears threatening to overflow the brim of her eyes. She wasn't fighting her best and Sasori kept getting in easy glances against her. Her defenses weren't as good as they could be and she realized that she was loosing this fight. She saw Payne sitting where he had been, concentrating on his seal and got an idea.

Her wings sent a large blast of wind over towards Payne's form and knocked him almost thirty feet back. Her head was clear and she grinned over at Sasori. Sasori took a step back and glared. A burst of flame came from the forests surrounding the fighting pair and both took steps away from the sudden tongue of heat. Eneko turned to see Payne making his way out of the fire he created. She glared fiercely, her hands clenched in a pure rage.

"Are you _insane_? The whole village could go up in flames if this spreads! You'll kill…" She broke off, realizing exactly who she was talking to and seeing the amused, malicious smile on his face. She took a deep breath and leaped into the air, her wings beating rhythmically as she rose higher and higher into the sky. Eneko used a collection of hand seals and a large wave of water flew over from a lake, nearly a mile away, and doused the early fire before it could do much damage.

"Hopefully that will work. Now, where was I?" She turned back to see Payne kneeling to use his possession jutsu and glared. She then saw her family and friends getting into position and realized that she'd better hurry and get Sasori or Payne out for her plan to work, though she should just throw it in the trash now and try and stay alive. She tucked her wings in and sped back to the earth at top speed, her feet landing on Sasori's shoulder blades.

She heard the sickening crunch that she was expecting, but it sounded more like she had just splintered wood than broken bone. Another Sasori charged at her and she realized that he had used one of his puppets as a decoy and had tricked her into thinking it was him.

_But where's the real one?_ She asked herself. Suddenly kunai knives came at her from everywhere and she suddenly got an idea. Puppets were made of wood and wood's weakness was fire. She put a shield up around the three of them so that everything shimmered out of anyone's peripheral vision. Then, she used a jutsu and the flames exploded within the shield. Before his puppets were completely destroyed, Sasori charged one final time and snapped her wrist before she could see where he was coming from. The sickening pain was enough, but the poison spread quickly through her system.

The fire doused immediately after Eneko got hurt and Sasori's puppets fell to the ground. She noticed one was still moving; one that looked exactly like the true Sasori. She stabbed through a heart section on it's chest and it became still. Burned and weary, she turned to Payne, who was recovering from his own burns.

"I realize something now, Payne. You have to enjoy life today…" she coughed up blood, staining her pure white skin. "Because yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come. I leave you in the hands of those that you took me away from. I let them finish you off, because I don't think I will be able to again." She fell to the ground, and everything slowly turned black. The last thing she heard was a combined voice of her family, yelling her name.

_Enjoy life today, because yesterday is long gone, and tomorrow may never come again._


	14. Epilogue

**Dreams Unbroken**

**Epilogue**

Eneko became conscious again after struggling in a black mist for longer than she cared to remember. She couldn't yet open her eyes and look around, but she knew that she wasn't dead because she could hear the god-forsaken heart monitor in the background. She was in the evil hospital again, great.

"Is she going to be all right?" She heard the worried voice of her daughter, Ijin, above the heart monitor's annoying tone. A frown marred Eneko's supposedly-sleeping face. She had worried her children again, through she had told them that she'd be all right no matter what happened to her. She sighed softly; her family never listens.

"It's Eneko, of course she'll be fine. She would have been much more fine if she had let me cure her of the poison in the first place," Sakura's voice trailed towards angry and Eneko held back a laugh. "But, again, it's Eneko, so what are you going to do? Though I'm not sure that we should let the rest of her family in quite yet. She needs her rest and your little brother is very loud. And very Eneko." The last part about Sachi made a giggle bubble in her throat.

"I'm already awake, little sister, so you may as well forget about the sleep." She opened her eyes and blinked, adjusting to the fluorescent lighting of the hospital room. "I think that I can handle seeing my family." Sakura let out a sigh, smiling and walking over. She checked Eneko's vitals before rolling her eyes. Ijin ran over to Eneko's bedside. The wind-user watched Sakura quiz her daughter on medical issues and Ijin answer without a second guess or any hesitations. Eneko smiled as she watched them look her over.

"Mom? Are you all right? Do you feel okay? Do I need to run and get you some more pain medication?" Eneko laughed while shaking her head, pushing Ijin's hair back behind her ear, out of her eyes.

"Yes, I'm fine. I feel perfectly all right. No, I need no pain medication. What I do need, however, is information!" She turned to Sakura. "How long have I been out? What happened after I blacked out? Where's the rest of my family? How many casualties or injuries were there? When can I go home? What happened to Payne? Did my plan work?" As she took a breath to continue quizzing her sister-in-law, Sakura put a hand on Eneko's mouth, effectively stopping the flow of questions.

"You've got to give me time to answer, Eneko. You've been out for three days and you'll find out later what happened. The rest of your family is in the waiting room, anxiously awaiting my report of what's going to happen to you. There weren't very many injuries that we can tell and there were only two casualties. You can go home anywhere from a week to three depending on how much you rest and allow your body time to heal. And I'm not kidding, you've got to rest or I'm not letting you go home. Itachi will agree with me, so don't go trying to get out of it. And you'll find out later what happened to Payne and if your plan worked because Itachi made me promise not to give you any information because that was his job." Eneko's bottom lip came out in a pout.

"Well then, tell my husband to get his husbandly butt in this room immediately. If I didn't die from whatever injury I sustained, I will die from not knowing what happened! Wait, what kind of injuries do I have? I'm so freaking numb that I can't figure out my own injuries!" Sakura laughed and motioned to her left wrist.

"Sasori snapped your wrist and it will take it a while to heal." Eneko glared at her wrist and Sakura got Ijin to toss her a mirror. Sakura held it up so that Eneko could see her own neck and the wind-user gasped. "You've got serious third degree burns on some parts of your body thanks to your own attack."

Tracing all the way down the right side of her neck was a plethora of burned skin, making that side of her neck a reddish-pink color. She grimaced and pulled the thin hospital covers away from her body. She saw the same markings on her legs and let out a shocked, horrified sigh. She looked up at Sakura, her eyes worried.

"Could…could you tell Itachi and my children to come in here please? I…I want to see them." Eneko's voice was subdued and Sakura gave her a nod and walked out of the room. Ijin covered her mother back over and made sure she was comfortable.

"You've got to be careful, all right, Mom? Sasori completely snapped your wrist and it's going to take you a while to get well again. And, guess what? We found out that I _do_ have some chakra and Sakura-oba-chan said that I can be her apprentice and learn about healing people! And Dad's going to train Sachi because he used to be partners with Kisame and his sharingan copied a lot of Kisame's techniques. Oh, and Niji and Sachi both have the sharingan and I saw Niji's wings and they were very pretty." Eneko gave her a weak smile and pulled her daughter into a hug.

"I'm very glad that you're going to fit in well here, Ijin. I was worried about what was going to happen with you, but now that we know that you've got chakra, Sakura can help you train it so that you can control it better. And I'm sure that Niji's sensei will help her a lot. And Itachi will be perfect for training Sachi." Eneko let out a happy breath. Ijin then grinned.

"And, I saw Niji kissing Misuto!" Eneko's calm, happy face broke out into a panicked look of shock.

"What?" She demanded. "That's Deidara's son, isn't it? Niji's too young to be kissing boys! You're too young to be kissing boys! And he's three years older than her!" She paused and her facial expression hesitated. "Well, as long as he has no mouths where he shouldn't, I guess that's a completely okay boyfriend." Ijin let out a short giggle and then stopped when they heard heavy, running footsteps running through the halls towards them.

"Mom! Mom, are you all right? You're awake! Mom, you did so amazing! It was a great battle! We were watching the whole time!" Niji and Sachi were talking so fast at the same time that their sentences blurred together and she couldn't tell who was saying what. Itachi walked into the room with a large smile plastered forcefully on his face. The atmosphere in the room immediately changed to one of nervousness.

"Hello, Eneko. I'm glad you're awake. Are you feeling all right?" He asked with the same forced smile plastered on his face. His words came through clenched teeth and Eneko shrunk back against her pillows. She gave him a hesitant smile.

"You're _really_ mad at me, aren't you?" She asked him, worried about the answer. Niji, Ijin, and Sachi giggled quietly at the smile plastered on their father's face.

"Very.I'm resister the urge to scream my lungs out right now And saying something that I would regret in front of your children. Let's drop this subject and move on, shall we?" Eneko closed her eyes and a few tears escaped through her closed lids. Itach's eyes widened and the forced smile disappeared and he gripped Eneko's shoulder.

"Eneko? Eneko, what's the matter?" Three other hands were placed on different places of her body. She used her good hand to pull Itachi toward her lightly. He understood immediately and wrapped his arms around her carefully to let her cry into his shirt.

"I'm sorry, Itachi, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to get hurt. I didn't mean to black out. I meant to let you handle it." She nearly sobbed.

"See what you've done, Father? I'd bet that this was all your fault!" Niji scolded her father, her hands on her hips and giving her crying mother worried looks.

"Dad, what she needed was rest and to be kept very calm and still and you walk in and two minutes later she starts crying! I'm seriously thinking about calling Sakura back in here to kick you out." Ijin threatened.

"Ijin, Niji hush. Sachi, don't you even start. Eneko I want you to listen to me and listen to me right now. I was only upset because you almost took yourself away from me again. Do you think that I could raise all these kids by myself? Now, do you want to know what happened?"

"Of course I do." She sniffed and moved away from him. Her green eyes still held unshed tears but she had a serious look on her frowning face.

"You killed the true Sasori, but Payne knew the blood clone technique and it was difficult to defeat someone like him."

"Sakura said that there were two casualties. Who was killed?" Itachi smiled at her interruption and shook his head.

"I think that I may have a talk with Sakura after this. There were two casualties, yes. One was Sasori and the other was Payne. But anyway, after you fell, I attacked who I thought was the true Payne and Niji and Sachi took you to the hospital. Every shinobi in the village fought against him, Eneko, it was amazing!" She smiled as he did.

"I'll bet. I wish that I could have seen it, but…" She glanced at her tightly bandaged wrist and sighed. "I put myself in danger too often. Maybe I should just stop being a kunoichi."

"Actually, Eneko-chan, I have a better idea." The hokage stood leaning against the door frame. Eneko ducked her head respectfully as he came in and he rolled eyes. "I'm offering you a full-time position as a teacher in the academy. If you feel the need to use your talents again, I will allow it." He could see the visible hesitations on her face and grinned. "I've spoken to both Tami and Tai and they've both missed you terribly. And I'd be really greatful if you would be ther to give my little girl some incentive to actually attend the academy. Unfortunately, her father's genes are a little more outspoken than her mother's." Eneko looked hesitantly up at Itachi, who smiled at her encouragingly.

"And I wouldn't be in any real danger, right?" Naruto nodded, the grin still on his face.

"Nope. Unless you consider the danger that's posed by an entire classroom full of six and seven year olds." He got an impish grin on his face. "I think that Sasuke's still recovering." Eneko's smile flash before she got a terrified expression on her face and looked up at Itachi.

"I can't do it, Itachi! My-my curse mark'll flare up again and I almost killed Tai and tami the last time. I can't risk the children's life!" Itachi frowned and touched the burned section of her neck. With a start, Eneko realized that he was touching exactly where her curse mark was.

"You defeated the curse mark, Eneko. You exhausted it's power by fighting to stay alive. The curse mark won't flare up again." Eneko smiled over at Naruto.

"Well, then I guess I'll give it a go. Well, that is, unless something goes horribly wrong." Niji scoffed.

"Something going wrong? In _our_ family? _Never_." The sarcasm dripping off her voice made Eneko giggle. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"This family is insane. Anyway, kids, get into position. Itachi, bring your wife." Everyone but Itachi walked quickly from the room. Itachi began disconnecting his wife from the machines very gently.

"Itachi? Where are we going? He, Sakura said that I had to rest! Itachi!" She yelled. Itachi uncovered her legs and grimaced as he saw the burns. He quickly scooped her into his arms and she laid her bad wrist over her stomach to keep it from getting jostled.

"I'll be careful, all right? Sakura'll kill me if I'm not. But I've been ordered by the hokage to take you to his surprise, so let's go." Eneko nodded, her mind weary with everything going on. She closed her eyes and leaned against Itachi's chest as he carried her down the hallways of the hospital. They went to a higher floor and stepped out onto the roof.

"Get well soon, Eneko!" Came the cry of thousands. Eneko's eyes snapped open and she looked out at a sea of villagers holding up banners and signs. Her whole family was there, along with every friend she had made along the way. Even those that she didn't know came out to wish her well. Tears entered her eyes as she noticed her genin team from all of those years ago.

Anei and Fushi were standing close together with Retsu off to the side a little bit. On top of Anei's shoulders and trying to eat his hair was a cute little blond-headed baby. Tsunade and Jiraiya were also spotted in the crowd along with Kakashi and Gai and Lee and everyone else.

"All…all of this…for me? Oh, Naruto, tell them all that I said thank you. Make sure that they all know how grateful I am." Tears were falling from her face as she smiled at her hokage.

"Look at her. You've completely worn her out all ready, Itachi. Back to bed with her. Naruto, I told you that it was too much too fast." Sakura scolded as she walked up. Itachi nodded and took his love back inside. Naruto was addressing the villagers as they left.

"Good night, Eneko." He murmured as he laid her back in her bed. She gripped his shirt sleeve and looked up at him.

"You tell Sakura that she's to let anyone that wants to visit me can, all right? I can see them when I wake up?" Her husband smiled and nodded.

"Of course, Ene-chan, but rest first." She laid back against her pillows, her eyelids growing heavy.

"Rest first." She repeated before falling into a deep and peaceful sleep. Konoha had been awarded peace at last. It was finally time for a rest.


End file.
